Children growing up in homes with lots of books end up attending three more years of school than children who grow up in homes with no books. The more books in the home the greater the benefit!

Recently, we were thrilled to have a bunch of hard-working, friendly, fun volunteers in our stockroom.  The Bridgewater State University employee volunteers helped us prepare and organize over 140 backpacks for the children in the Brockton motels and family shelters for the new school year.

~ submitted by Colleen Rooney, summer intern and student at Bridgewater State University

For the last several weeks, I have been tutoring Matt and John, ages 5 and 7.  Matt, the younger one, is a very bright child who excels in math and reading and will be entering first grade in September.  Unfortunately, his brother John is far behind academically.  John is going into third grade, but he is at a first grade level.  John is a student who has been “swept under the rug” and continues to go unnoticed, as many children impacted by homelessness do.

 School on Wheels of Massachusetts  focuses our efforts on assisting students with their educational needs, in order to help our students stay on track in school. For some students though, in order to stay on track in school, they need more than assistance with math and reading. Some students lack fundamental life skills, such as organizational skills, which can be just as essential for success for particular kids. Luckily, our students that lack these skills are able to learn them through the caring adult that works with them week after week.