Guest column: How Rotary Club helped rescue an 'at-risk' child Guest column: How Rotary Club helped rescue an 'at-risk' child (August 17, 2005)

By Joan Fuetsch

President, Rotary Club of Woodside/Portola Valley

A year ago I met Selena, then age 9, through volunteer work at the Girls' Club of the Mid-Peninsula. She was living with her mother and two siblings in a garage in East Palo Alto.

Last summer I introduced this very active, enthusiastic child to horseback riding and swimming. And we began a now year-long partnership between the Rotary Club of Woodside/Portola Valley and Selena and her family that has for all practical purposes rescued an "at risk" child who was falling through the cracks.

Thanks to the efforts of the Rotary Club, Selena and her 7-year old brother George were transferred last September to Nativity School in Menlo Park, where she found herself in an English-speaking classroom for the first time.

Individual members of the Rotary Club paid the tuition for the children while others donated their time selling Christmas trees at the school's annual fundraiser to keep the tuition at the lowest level.

As the children settled into school, it was found that Selena needed homework assistance and the Rotarians provided it.

The third grade was a struggle for Selena but it is a struggle that she won thanks to her efforts, the support of the Rotary Club, and the patience of the staff at Nativity School.

Selena, who is very bright, is being treated for attention deficit hyperactive syndrome, with the help of the Children's' Health Council, and her school performance and self-esteem have improved dramatically.

A 90 percent score on the school's Spell-A-Thon was a remarkable achievement for a child who could barely read in English a year ago.

Selena is now talking about meeting the challenge of getting "mostly As" so she can earn a promised trip to Guatemala to visit Rotary projects.

Selena's mother, a legal resident, has no formal education. She has been taking ESL and GED classes at Canada College. When not in school she does a variety of jobs in order to pay her rent and feed her children.

Late last year she was able to move into a small house with a yard for her children in east Menlo Park. Members of the Rotary Club provided bunk beds and a couch. A Menlo Park policeman friend of the family brought them their first Christmas tree.

Selena is attending camp in the Sierras for two weeks this summer and her brother, George, is attending the Solo Aquatics Swim Camp, thanks to the Rotary Club. George is realizing his dream of piano lessons and hopes to soon master the "Moonlight Sonata" (yes, he is 7).

The club has awarded partial scholarships to all three children (the youngest will attend kindergarten at Nativity in September) to help offset their tuition and fees for the next school year. Funds to assist these deserving children are available through the generosity of those who attended the club's 2004 fundraiser, Taste of Woodside.

Poverty in our own community cannot be ignored. Just because you don't see it most days doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. You go on vacation and your housekeeper's kids may not eat. That is the reality.

Take a drive down University Avenue in Palo Alto from one end to the other. The disparity is very obvious.

What a difference it would make if every family that could, would offer assistance to just one family on the "other side of the tracks."
INFORMATION

** The Rotary Club of Woodside/Portola Valley meets every Wednesday morning for breakfast at 7:30 a.m. at the Guild Hall of the Woodside Village Church. Guests are always welcome. For more information about the club, go to: www.wpvrotary.org, or e-mail wpvrotary@yahoo.com. ** Joan Fuetsch is a certified financial planner in Menlo Park and is president of the Rotary Club of Woodside/Portola Valley. For more information, call Ms. Fuetsch at 462-1725 or e-mail jfuetsch@earthlink.net.

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