Volunteers give help, hope at Grace Smith

Martha Knauf Guest Writer

Three times each week, 15 Vassar students drive to downtown Poughkeepsie to mentor children living at the Grace Smith House with their mothers who are victims of domestic abuse. The Women’s Center established this opportunity for Vassar students to volunteer at the house, and these fifteen students volunteer as individuals, not representatives from a formal student organization. Each visit, Vassar students come ready to help the children with their homework, armed with knowledge, energy, and optimism.

The children eagerly anticipate these visits, as many have formed close relationships with the Vassar students. Volunteers offer a unique afternoon of fun and learning for the kids as well as a much-needed respite for the mothers.

Many women in the Grace Smith House are trying to recover from the trauma of abuse and plan their futures. “Without this group, their mothers would be much more burdened,” said Sascha Atkins-Loria ’08, who has been volunteering since last year.

Working with the children isn’t always easy; a good deal of patience and a calm demeanor are required, and volunteers have to undertake the difficult task of being friends with the children while maintaining their authority. “This is the application of everything we’re learning, but it’s abstract…rather than studying, we’re actually doing,” said Atkins-Loria. “It requires a high amount of thought and purpose, while also being on the level of the children.”

One-third of the volunteers are male, providing positive male role models for the kids. Tyler Robinson ’08 bonded particularly well with an 11-year-old boy. Though not as enthusiastic as his peers to involve himself with the group, this boy grew attached to Robinson and turned to him for advice and brotherly counsel. Through this experience, Robinson said he realized that “we can really make a social contribution to their well-being.”

Robinson is not the only one who has been affected by the children. “The kids all have such good hearts and wisdom beyond their years—I end up learning from them every time I visit,” said Justine Ambrose ’08.

The “homework club” has not only fostered relationships between the children and volunteers, but has encouraged friendships among the children themselves. “I’ve never seen such a wide range of kids be friends,” said Atkins-Loria. “It’s a really overwhelmingly supportive group.”