Alyce Smith

Fostering A Life, Inc. is a nonprofit agency that provides life skills and tutoring services to youth between four and 10 years of age. We were incorporated in April of 2008 and received our designation letter from the IRS in April 2009.

I was motivated to become involved in this work when I worked for the foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies. A senior vice president there would receive many initiatives across his desk, including one titled “No Child Left Behind.” I read this enormous document and decided I could do a part of it and help young people. I did research on starting nonprofits, a process which took time and money. But today, we are in our third year of providing educational services to our local community.

Our original goal was to work with foster youth but, unable to make any headway, we started our journey doing events at local churches. In the summer of 2013, a new minister at church offered space to Fostering A Life to start a six-week summer reading program for 30 students, which was successful.

Our community was also in need of homework help. Thus began our After School Enrichment Program with 82 students. September 2015 was our third year in this program.

Another community need was for parents who wanted to help their children with school work, but were unable to because of language difficulties. That led to starting another initiative “English as a Second Language” in 2014. FAL received a grant for this and we had 25 adult students from our community. We hope to continue this initiative.

The biggest impact has been helping students with their homework and helping them to understand what has been taught that day. This takes the pressure off their parents and helps with family life. This also brings to light students who may need special help in certain subjects. Each student receives attention from our volunteers.

What I would you like the world to know about older workers is that they are the best resource this country has. I would not have been able to operate without the women who have helped keep these initiatives alive. They receive no pay, volunteer two to three days a week and, like teachers, help their students with school supplies. Young workers are eager, but older workers are seasoned.