Since retiring 11 years ago, Doyle Crow has been giving back by tutoring and mentoring children. For the past three years, he has been tutoring at four Kalamazoo Public Schools (as well as several other non KPS sites).

He consistently goes above and beyond the call of duty. As an example, a student whom Doyle has been working with over the past three years has shown a major positive shift in both attitude and behavior. The student is more receptive to learning, and his failing grades have been solidly replaced with Bs.  This fall, Doyle was nominated by CIS for PriorityHealth’s Senior Impact Volunteer Recognition Program and received a certificate of appreciation in acknowledgement of his energy and commitment to give to our community.

Johnny Dangerfield is a returning volunteer. Once a week, you will find him out at Lincoln Elementary (he also volunteers at KPS’ Indian Prairie) flanked by 15 students, all boys, all of them reading books. Thus, the aptly titled program: “Guys Read.”  As a Guys Read volunteer, Johnny models the importance of reading and encourages students along the way, often challenging them to read books that are a little bit harder than the last one they read.

And why does Johnny volunteer through CIS? He explains. “When I was growing up, the village was raising kids. That’s not happening so much anymore…I just want our kids to succeed.” Without that village of support, Johnny has noticed that kids who face tough situations often revert to “making excuses for themselves and wanting to give up.”

But Johnny won’t let them. He knows what it’s like to not have it easy. “I came from a single parent family. My mother was not educated but she was strict and she made it her mission to see that I learned. I know reading is important and I want to get that across to the students. I want them to succeed.”

Volunteer Diane Worden writes: Early this September upon leaving a grocery store where I had shopped, a little boy ahead of me was helping his dad carry out their groceries in a box. He looked at me before stepping into the parking lot and said quite animatedly, "Hey! I know you!" Recovering from this surprise, I quickly responded to the second or third grader, "Do you go to Washington Writers' Academy?" He nodded yes, so I continued, "How's school going this year? Doing lots of writing?" "Oh, yes," he replied, "When are you coming back?"

Sometime during the last school year, I had interacted with this young fellow only once for about 45 minutes while volunteering at Washington's Publishing Center. That he remembered me, even though I couldn't recall his name, was the highlight of my day. He made signing up to volunteer again very easy.