Spring 2012
www.smith.edu/cso
585-2793
CSO Contributor
Kensington school refuge tutor/mentor program
By: Angela Navarro Fusillo ‘14
Kensington Avenue School is an
International baccalaureate elementary
school in Springfield which teaches
based on the Responsive Classrooms
educational philosophy. Smith student
tutor/mentors are paired with students,
from kindergarten to sixth grade, who
come from refugee backgrounds. Smith
vans conveniently take us to and from
Kensington and one can also gain workstudy hours by tutoring at Kensington.
Last fall I was working with Raman, a
kindergartener from Nepal and Habiba,
a kindergartener from Somalia. We sat at
a small table outside of their classroom
and would have conversations, and work
on their reading. I love my conversations
with the students, they tell me about their
families, their parents and siblings’ names
and ages; they tell me about what they like
to do outside of school, and they explain
their drawings.
I was unsure what to expect when
I first got to the school, but I found a great
network of instruction and information
both from C.S.O and from Kensington. I am
always given work to do with the students
and feel comfortable asking question
about the program. Even if conversation
stalls, a smile suffices; at least it still
does in kindergarten. This semester I am
working with Pradeep, a kindergartener
from Nepal. He is excellent at counting
and has started sounding out words. For
Thanksgiving, in Art class the students
were tracing their hands onto a sheet of
paper and making turkeys, butterflies,
and spiders out of them, Pradeep began
to sound out the word ‘e-g-g’ and ‘t-u-rk-e-y’. It’s exciting to be present when
someone begins to makes discoveries for
themselves.
Pradeep and I are working mainly
in the classroom together; at first, I felt
I was a big distraction in the classroom.
Curious students were asking me
questions about myself when the teacher
expected them to be listening to her. But
students have gotten used to my presence
and now are comfortable enough to ask
me to help them tie their shoelaces or put
fallen earrings back on. In the Responsive
Senior Carson and Mentee having fun
Classroom Approach children are taught
how to be cooperative and respectful
of each other, I am impressed by how
well behaved the students are, and how
respectful and curious they are towards
each other. The students I’ve worked
with are able to communicate well in
English but there are some students in
the classroom that have no knowledge of
English at the beginning of kindergarten.
As each week progresses, it’s amazing to
see how these students slowly learn a little
bit more, can recognize some numbers,
begin to follow the conversations in
English around them, and smile more.
Pradeep’s kindergarten teacher tells her
students to kiss their brains. They kiss
their fingers and touch their foreheads.
Inside this Issue
Kensington Program
Reflections...Homework House
Interfaith Cot Emergency Shelter
What’s up in the Community
Kensington Students perform the play “We are the World”
Spring 2012
page 2
Reflections on........
Tutoring at Homework House After School Program
by Talia Abner ‘14
Since my first year at Smith, I have
been volunteering at Homework House,
an experience that has proved to be
immensely rewarding. My various
reasons for volunteering ranged from
a need to break out of the Smith bubble
and wanting to spend time with people
under the age of 18. When I first arrived,
I was assigned to tutor a first grader and
kindergartener and remained with them
for the year.
At Homework House, a tutor is
expected to help children complete their
homework, and do twenty minutes of
math and reading with the children. The
younger children in Homework House
often complete their homework within the
first half hour, and the remaining time is
used on academic enrichment activities.
Though initially I assumed academic
enrichment meant providing the kids
with endless amounts of worksheets, I
saw that homework has a myriad of fun,
learning activities that the kids love, like
math bingo and Spiderman literacy books.
The best part of Homework House for me
has been watching the incredible strides
the children have made. This year, I
nearly cried when I watched a kid who had
counted on his fingers last year; complete
a math worksheet with ease. The best part
was his excitement about doing the work
and the look of utter joy that swept across
his face as I told him he had gotten them all
right. To have a kid who initially despised
math and see him become enthused
was indescribable. At Homework House,
I have witnessed a child read her very first
book, played multiple games of Candy
Land, and have had many sweet cards
made just for me. I feel so fortunate to
have had the opportunity to volunteer over
the past year and hope to continue until I
graduate.
initially signed up to volunteer as a favor
to him. He really needed tutors and I saw
how much he cared so about the children
and believed in the program, so I gave it a
shot and decided to help him out. As soon
as I started I began to really enjoy the
time I spent tutoring, playing games, and
laughing with the kids. I also felt a certain
connection to the program because I grew
up in Holyoke and even attended the same
public schools as most of the children
there. It felt good to not only be helping
them out, but my community as well.
I think what I liked most about
the program was being able to interact
with the kids that attend Homework
House. They are some of the funniest,
nicest, and sometimes loudest kids you’ll
ever meet, and every one of them has such
a great and unique personality. A lot of
these kids have been through so much in
their young lives and all they want to do
when they come to Homework House is
be with their friends, and learn. When
they arrive from the bus at 3:15, they know
they have to come in, sit down, and get
started on their homework with the help
and guidance from their tutors, compiled
of college and high school students from
the surrounding area, and volunteers
from the community. The program
provides a safe space for the children to
have positive interactions with each other
at a time where most of them would be
either at home watching tv or hanging out
in the streets.
I was very excited to be working
as a fellow because I got to help an
organization I’ve enjoyed volunteering
at over the past years. It feels great to
be working with people who are truly
dedicated to improving the lives of these
children. I also loved getting to know all
the new Smith tutors and helping them in
any way I can! Its awesome to be a part
of something bigger than yourself, being
able to help so many people, and still
enjoy doing what you do.
Reflections on Tutoring at Homework House After School Program
Melissa Melendez ‘13
I live off-campus
I’ve been involved in Community service
for over 5 years now
Favorite Community Service Program:
The Nurturing Father Program at Enlace
de Familias in Holyoke, MA
Homework House is a nonprofit after-school tutoring and mentoring
program for children K-8 in Holyoke,
Massachusetts. The program aims to
provide a caring and loving environment
for children who are at-risk for academic
failure and dropping out of school. I have
been volunteering at Homework House
since my first year at Smith, and now as a
junior and a student fellow to the program,
I had the privilege of working with the
Homework House Directors to help shape
and enrich the program in any way I could
This Fall as the C.S.O Homework House
Fellow I also helped to organize, provide
support, and be a resource to the Smith
tutors who volunteer at the program
as well. C.S.O currently has 35 tutors
working at Homework House. I tutored
3 days a week, and spent 3 hours a week
checking in with the tutors, sharing my
thoughts and concerns with the directors
of Homework House and C.S.O, and
coming up with enrichment programs for
the kids. This was my first year working
as a student fellow and I’ve truly enjoyed
being able to work hands on with an
organization that does so much for its
community.
My brother, Andrew Melendez
was the Program Director of Homework
House when I first started to volunteer. I
Community
Community
No need for money
No need for material goods
No status or power claimed here
Community
Just bring your physical
being and soul
Just lend a hand when asked to
Just have a smile and support
those who need it here
Community
Built by those directly affected
Built by staff and volunteers
Built by kindness, respect, and
generosity here
-Christine Niccoli ‘14
Volunteer Interfaith Cot EmergencyShelter
Spring 2012
page 3
The four years I spent
volunteering at the
shelter are hard to
summarize. However, I find
this verse beautifully
articulates something I’ve
learned from the experience:
Volunteering at the shelter allows me to
take a break from the
self-involved life at Smith and come back
down into the Northampton
community. Helping maintain the shelter
is a way of sustaining
Northampton’s unique tradition of
unconditional hospitality. My
experience at the homeless shelter has
allowed me to further
understand the different forms of
adversity each individual faces and
the ways in which we can continue to
relate to each other
compassionately and playfully through
it all.
-Adina Bianchi ‘12
“Do not neglect to show
hospitality to strangers,
for by doing so some have
entertained angels without
knowing it.”
–Hebrews 13:2
-Alicen Roberts ‘12
I also created this image, which represents the potential for Love to grow...and a meaningful conversation and a good laugh is like watering this seed. I feel so
thankful for countless such experiences over the years.-Alicen Roberts
A Concerned Communities Response: A History
of the Interfaith Cot Emergency Winter Shelter
by Yvonne Freccero, President FHCHI
If you go down Center St (off
State St.) on a cold winter night around
5:30, next to the construction site of the
new police station you will see a line of
homeless people waiting to enter the
interfaith emergency homeless shelter.
Organized and supported by area
volunteers known as Friends of Hampshire
County Homeless Individuals, the shelter
provides safety, food and beds for 20 – 26
people a night.
Our story begins during the cold
winter months of 1994. A homeless man,
who could not get a bed at the Grove
Street Inn because it was full, froze to
death on the railway tracks. Subsequently,
then-Mayor Mary Ford appealed to local
churches to provide emergency overnight
shelter. Seven churches responded and
rotated housing and feeding the homeless
during the winter months. The city
employed a professional staff member
from ServiceNet to work closely with
the guests. This collaboration between
the City, ServiceNet, and a group of
concerned volunteers was the start of a
long-lasting and productive relationship.
Three years later, the volunteers located
a permanent site. The shelter has moved
a couple of times since then and is now
in the basement of 43 Center Street,
Northampton, where it offers warm beds
and hot meals from November through
April. In addition there is a 6-bed annex
in Easthampton, where yet another
group of volunteers provide comfort and
security. In the year 2000 the volunteers
formed a non-profit 501(c) 3 organization,
Friends of Hampshire County Homeless
Individuals, Inc. with the mission of
providing financial and volunteer support
for the Interfaith Winter Shelter.
Every evening during the six winter
months a team of volunteers arrives
bringing a cooked meal for the 20-24
guests. A professional staff member from
ServiceNet is on duty at the shelter during
all opening hours the volunteers serve the
meal cafeteria –style and after cleaning the
kitchen, stay and socialize with the guests.
This is where the great contribution made
by Smith students enters the scene. Two
students come to the shelter from 7:30 –
9:00 every evening so that the volunteer
teams can go home (many after a long
day’s work). Students finish cleaning,
empty the dishwasher and do any chores
the staff may request. With time left
over they socialize with the guests, watch
TV with them or play games.
Staff,
volunteers and guests alike are vocal in
their appreciation of the help they give. In
turn the students who participate say they
enjoy the experience and often volunteer
for more than one year. This year Alicen
Roberts is our student intern for the shelter
and would be happy to talk with anyone
interested in volunteering. (aroberts@
smith.edu)
The shelter continues to be
a pioneer in the community and is an
exceptional example of what a group of
passionate and selfless people can do for
a worthwhile cause. Its unique approach
to homelessness has defined it as a model
shelter that brings in individuals from
multiple counties to assist in its mission.
More recently, the Friends has been
inspired by the Housing First movement
to create permanent housing for homeless
individuals. Housing First shows that
homeless people are more able to rebuild
their lives when provided with permanent
housing first, and then receiving support
services, rather than the other way around
as in the traditional shelter model. In
2008 the Friends purchased a duplex
in Florence to be a residence for six
chronically homeless individuals; this
house is called Yvonne’s House, and now
is owned and managed by ServiceNet.
In 2011, the Friends purchased another
duplex in downtown Northampton, this
time to be a permanent residence for six
homeless people who are also committed
to recovery from substance abuse (a
common factor in homelessness.)
Spring 2012
WHATS UP IN THE COMMUNITY
The did you know edition
Incarcerated Women and their children
•
Tax payers are now paying more than a billion dollars a year simply to
incarcerate men and women…this is more than the amount being spent on
public higher education.
•
Jails and prisons are often the first response to complicated issues like poverty,
mental illness and addiction.
•
Most women entering prison have been convicted for non violent crimes.
Many women in drug related crimes are used as mules or carriers.
•
Incarcerated women are among the poorest people in America. Two thirds
have less than a high school education and one in five are homeless.
•
African American and Hispanic women make up only 18% and 15.1% of
N.Y state population respectively yet 79% of all women in N.Y states prisons
are black or Hispanic.
•
Incarcerated women are shackled while giving birth.
•
More than half the women who get out of U.S prisons are not allowed access
to public benefits such as subsidized housing and voting rights.
•
Two million children under the age of 18 have an incarcerated parent, 53,000
of these children go into foster care, without proper community support
children of prisoners will suffer an array of abuse leading to behavioral
problems resulting in truancy, early pregnancy, drug abuse and juvenile
delinquency.
For more information visit: the real cost of prisons project at
page 4
memorable moments. The first is of one
night coming in and one of the men
offering us cake, beaming from ear to ear.
One of the women also staying at the
shelter had used her own money to
purchase a large birthday cake to share
with everyone there The second is of a
young woman doubled in pain from a
kidney stone and being wheeled out of the
shelter in an office chair to the
ambulance. She had been in the same
agony two weeks before but the hospital
had refused to do surgery because of a
lack of health insurance. I was struck by
both the tenderness that some of the other
guests treated her with as well as the absurdity and wrongness of her having to
suffer for weeks when the cause of her
pain was known and treatable. The third
is of an evening when one man brought
out his guitar to play. Two other men
joined him in singing, their voices filling
the shelter and acting as a magnet drawing
the guests together into the small dining
room. People walking by from doing laundry or coming in to get a drink of water
paused and became an impromptu
audience, offering song suggestions and
some of them joining the singing before
moving on.
http://realcostofprisons.org .
Tila Mainga, C.S.O Outreach Intern.
Reflections on Volunteering at the Homeless Shelter
-Kayla Clark ‘14
I have been grateful to get to volunteer
at the shelter with individuals who have
such humor, compassion and resiliency.
At times there would be no tasks and everyone was in need of relaxing so were
watching TV in silence and I wondered
how helpful I was being as a volunteer.
Other nights I would have conversations
with individuals and feel as though I was
able to offer something, even if it was
only through listening and caring what
they said. I have no doubt, however, that I
personally have gained a lot from the opportunity to work at the shelter. Hearing
individuals’ stories has helped me understand many of theoretical concepts we talk
about in our sociology classes at smith. I
have gained an awareness of obstacles I
had never previously thought of such as
how sleep apnea without medical insurance for treatment means individuals are
never fully rested makes functioning and
succeeding in school or work much more
difficult . It has also challenged
assumptions I didn’t even know I had.
For instance I had never
explicitly acknowledged to myself that I
believed most people experiencing
homelessness were trying to find work
but were unemployed until I found myself
surprised that many of the individuals at
the shelter work, sometimes several jobs
or full time and still aren’t able to afford
housing and that many have had years
of experience working, in occupations as
diverse as working in the five
college dining halls, taxi driving, artists
and licensed nurses , the military, breeding
dogs or being a traveling antique furniture
salesmen.
There are three evenings at the shelter that
stick out vividly in my mind as
For me, volunteering at the
homeless shelter was a way to help
be aware of my privilege as a
student at a prestigious private
college. Perhaps what I enjoy the
most is listening to people’s life
stories -the majority of which would
break your heart in two, like the
woman who was kicked out on the
streets after her husband decided
to go back to his first wife. Though
at first I was a bit shy, I have come
to love shelter and its residents and
plan to continue volunteering for
the next three years.
-Brittany Bennet ‘15