Why I Volunteer by Janice Walker
May 9, 2011
Working at Maple Learning Center is the best part of my week. Recently, a new boy entered the program and I was fortunate enough to get to work with him. He was still learning English and he had a list of words he was working on. Lucy, the neighborhood volunteer mom, jumped in quickly to help me make him some flash cards with the words he was struggling with. We made it a game, and he quickly learned the words. It was fun when we both laughed at some of his mis-pronunciations and we both got excited as he did better and better. It was a joy to see him explain to his dad the progress he made in that hour.
Another great joy of mine is seeing my 14-year old son, David interacting with the kids and making connections. I would never have known that he could tutor or teach unless we had come to Maple. Volunteering gives people the opportunity to discover their God-given gifts, and what better place to do it than in your own community!
About 5 years ago, I was thinking to myself, “Some day I’m going to sink a bunch of money into Costa Mesa.” Well, then about 2 years later, I started attending The Crossing and heard about the Maple Learning Center. I quickly learned that developing relationships was more important than just sinking money into a project. I’m so excited to continue to get to know the Maple families, and if I ever come into money, well you can bet I’ll give some of that to Maple too!
Janice and her son David volunteer weekly at the Maple Learning Center
