Who is Served?

snack time

The 2016 – 2017 school year has come to a close, and that brings an end to another year for the After School Tutoring (AST) Program at the Peace Center. At several times during the year, we compile a report entitled “Who Is Served?” which helps us know more about the children we serve.  Each student who comes to the program is asked to complete a registration form, and with the help of facilitators, drivers, tutors, and family members, we gather data about the children.

This year, we had 95 students who completed their registration forms. We had an additional 35 children who came for at least one tutoring session but did not bring in completed forms. These children were served by more than 125 volunteers throughout the school year. Attendance at tutoring sessions averaged about 35 children per night.

tutor gary krekow with syrian students

As has been the case in the past, we had more girls than boys registered. We did see a shift in the grade level of attendees, with a rise in the number of high school students this year. The majority of our students (85 percent) attend St. Louis Public Schools. Those registered listed the following as their birth countries: Bhutan, Congo, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea-Conakry, Liberia, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Syria, and the United States. Prior to November 2016, we had no children from Syria in the AST Program. Syrian children now make up 27 percent of our population. Sixty-one percent of our children stated that they were “Christian” or part of a specific Christian denomination, and almost 34 percent of the children listed “Muslim” as their religion. About 40 percent of the children arrived in the United States in 2016 and 2017.

As we come to the end of another AST year, we pray that God would bless and keep all of our children safely in His care over the summer. May He continue to bring New American children to us so that we may have the opportunity to share the Gospel message with them.

By Sandy Gerber St. Johns, Morganford