The Pen Pal program is a great way for adults age 55+ to connect with local 5th grade students through the power of the pen – or the click of computer keys.
Volunteers are matched with students of Amber Bauer, teacher at James Conger Elementary school in Delaware. Both the students and the volunteers will read the novel Countdown, which is about the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, then exchange 4 letters from January through April. The letters will discuss the book and the life experiences of both the adults and the students.
In Ms. Bauer’s words, “It’s a neat way for seniors to affect the future of our students by making connections with these kids. Since they don’t have a lot of life experiences, they can’t read something and know which parts the author made up and which parts are real,” she said, “but talking to someone who has lived through it, they can see that these things really happened.”
To learn more about the program visit www.connectionsvolunteercenter.org or call 740-363-5000.
(The “power of the pen” phrase from the opening paragraph above and quotes from Ms. Bauer are from a May 10, 2014 Delaware News article – http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/delaware/news/2014/05/09/cuban-missile-crisis-letters-unite-students-senior-citizens.html)
