Our Volunteers
Volunteers are the life-blood of Rise & Shine. Each month over 60 members of the local community serve as one-on-one Homework Coaches or Guided Reading Teachers. Homework Coaches make a commitment of four days, Monday through Thursday, for one week of each month. Each Coach currently works with three Scholars in rotation.
If YOU would like to volunteer to help our Scholars but can’t make a full-time commitment, we can always use substitutes!
“Often, the tutor learns from the scholar. Many gifts are exchanged between scholars and tutors. The most important are thoughtfulness and love.”
Guided Reading tutors work with small groups of only four or five scholars at a time, and often witness marked growth in a remarkably short period. Needless to say, they find it highly rewarding!
Organizations that sponsor teams include:
“This has been the most rewarding volunteer job I have ever had. Each day is different, each child is different, and I am different since I got involved with Rise & Shine.”
First United Methodist Church
Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd
Sacred Heart Catholic Church
Unitarian Universalists of Transylvania County
St. Philip's Episcopal Church
Two other teams comprise volunteers who are unaffiliated with a particular organization. They are fondly referred to as our:
Community A Team
Community B Team
“The volunteers take a special interest in their scholars. Many tutors go beyond homework coaching after school. They may take their scholars out for a restaurant meal, for a walk downtown, or for a visit to their own homes. The result is that the children come to know that someone really cares about them.”
At least 25 other individuals volunteer in various ways (such as taking photographs or producing our communications). Several of these are Brevard College students studying to become educators. They work primarily with students in grades 6-12.
Rise & Shine Scholars also are supported by our Hostesses, who cheerfully serve the children a meal provided through the Transylvania County Schools Nutrition Department every day. When field trips are planned, Scholars are provisioned with a sack lunch. Hostess volunteers are members of Bethel "A" Baptist Church.
“Working with the individual Scholars gives back more to me than I can give to them. When they see me downtown and give me big hugs, that just makes my day! More importantly, it is wonderful to see the Scholars’ individual improvement from September to May. Rise & Shine does make a difference.”