Every week a group of 13 Christ-like Servants from our church family volunteer with children and teachers at Killarney Elementary School. Killarney, an Orange County Public School, is racially and culturally diverse with 99% of the children on free and reduced lunch. Twenty five percent of the children are homeless living in the motels off Lee Road. The rate of homeless children at Killarney is the highest in Orange County Public Schools.
These committed volunteers have contributed over 250 hours of instructional time since beginning this partnership in October. Most of our group assist children with reading. Several of the volunteers have taken additional training in an Orange County program, Read to Succeed. This program has proved effective in improving vocabulary and fluency of first and second graders who are struggling readers.
The Killarney partnership is an effort to address the purposes of both the Diversity Team and Local Missions. Through Missions our church provided Killarney students with school supplies that were collected in August. Hannah Circle has given the school $500 which is being used for critical parent engagement and involvement activities. This partnership has given our volunteers an opportunity to build a bridge across the racial divide in our community and grown in the understanding of those who are different resulting in an expanded view of the Kingdom of God and our vibrant family.