An Interview with the Kraines/Surawski Community Group

Name of Community Group:

Joe Stevens – Kraines/Surawski small group 

Where Do You Serve?

Rochester Family Mission  

What Do You Do While There?

We help with the tutoring program – Children who are in school from Pre-K to 5^th (or maybe a little older) come to RFM to get a meal, and then tutors help them with their homework for an hour, and then they get ~30 minutes of recreational time.

During the tutor time we help them with their homework, and if they finish early there are some supplemental materials that you can copy and give to the children (that way they are still learning, and not sitting there and/or distracting the ones who are still working on homework).

What Did You Enjoy About Your Experience?

I think the most enjoyable thing is seeing the excitement on the children’s faces when they know that they got an answer right. Also, you know that this small thing you are doing could end up having a huge impact on the child’s life down the road.

Why Would You Recommend Others to Serve Where You Did?

The way that tutoring at RFM is going to be most effective is by having each child have a 1-on-1 tutor to work through their homework. In order to do that, RFM needs more tutors. The homework that the children have to work on is usually pretty basic math and/or reading, so most any adult could help them with the homework they have. I think more than anything, the kids will respond well to adults who really care and want to help them to understand what it is they are learning. It’s a small time commitment to something that can really make a huge difference in some of these children’s lives.