This
article is taken from our August 2006 newsletter. To subscribe
to
the print edition, send
us an e-mail or call us at (601) 353-6336.
Check
out our newsletter archive!
| Shoestring
Staff Profile:
DOROTHY DAVIS
 For
Project KIDS instructor Dorothy Davis, it’s all about
the love. Love for her students, that is.
"Operation Shoestring is a very nurturing kind of organization," she
says. "The kids are young and impressionable, and
the knowledge and caring they receive here gives them a
stronger foundation for life."
Dorothy
grew up in Coldwater, Mississippi ("where the water
is always cold"), and graduated from Jackson State
with a degree in social studies and elementary education.
She worked as a youth counselor for a few years in Buffalo,
New York, then came back home to marry. She taught for
several years in the exceptional education department
of the Vicksburg school system, then worked at Galloway
Elementary for two years.
|
It was during this time that she started volunteering at Shoestring,
assisting former Project KIDS director John Crossley.
Dorothy also teaches at Rowan Middle School, then comes to work
at Shoestring at 4 PM five days a week. Dorothy sees her work
at Shoestring as a good complement to her regular teaching at
Rowan.
"I
always wanted to be a role model and mentor for kids," she
says. "The work I do here is a natural fit with my teaching
job, because the kids I teach at Rowan are a little older. There’s
a continuity that comes from the experience I have in both places."
She
often gets to see students during her "day job" whom
she once taught at Operation Shoestring.
"It
just makes my day to see these kids say 'I love you Ms. Davis!'
several years after I taught them at Shoestring," she
says. "It makes me feel like I’ve made a difference
in their lives.
"I don’t work here for the pay. I do it because
I am committed to these children and my love for them. Seeing
their smiles, getting those hugs… that’s what keeps
me coming here."
If I could pick another career: "Anything
with children. I love my work and I wouldn’t want to
do anything else. But if I had to pick, I would say maybe working
with the elderly,
or helping the illiterate learn reading skills."
Career
I wouldn’t want: "A hospital job."
Role
model: "My parents, because without them I wouldn’t
be where I am today. They always wanted me and my siblings to
get an education so we could make a good living for ourselves.
They always told us that we could do anything we wanted to do,
as long as we believe in ourselves."
Newsletter
Archive:
