Year-End Report: Low Income Tutoring (2017)

Agape Fish Fund partners with O'Keefe, a ministry that provides tutoring and mentorship to low-income elementary and middle school students in East Palo Alto, California.

Bonnie tutors one of the students

Elementary School tutoring continues

Elisa tutoring

Lydia tutoring

This year we have 11 students in our elementary school tutoring program. We were blessed to have several new students join us, and we also have many returning students who have been with us for 3-4 years.

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Middle School Tutoring Added

Six of our students are now in middle school, and we decided to continue tutoring them. They have all been with us for 6-9 years, and we want to continue the relationships we've built with them. We've opened up a second apartment on O'Keefe across the street dedicated to middle school tutoring every Monday. Two of our tutors live there, including Dean, who leads the middle school program.

Dean is the one with the white shirt and yellow shoes.

Having fun with tennis

In addition to tutoring, we also teach them  fun and practical skills such as tennis and coding, especially during the summer. We are also intentional about having meaningful spiritual conversations. For example, on Columbus Day, since the kids did not have school, Dean held a discussion with the middle school students about the Las Vegas shootings and how it relates to the problem of evil.

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Dean's Testimonial

"​A young middle school boy who hadn't (yet) really owned his faith had shown me, someone who claims to own their own faith, a part of God I hadn't even engaged with in a long time."

Dean teaches Rodrigo how to code.

​I moved to the Bay Area (EPA) just over a year ago and have worked with the middle school kids since then. As a team we've built out more activities for the middle school kids beyond just tutoring, including summer camp activities, tennis lessons, bible studies, learning coding, and learning how to play the piano.
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As many people have told me, often when you are serving in ministry you think you are the one blessing others but in reality you are also being blessed. My best memory was of a field trip to Monterey Bay Aquarium last year, very early on in my tenure. We were at the end of our trip and the kids were all buying items at the gift shop. One of the middle school boys, Rodrigo, bought a gift for his little sister, Leslie (how thoughtful!). However, she rejected it and was very unappreciative. Rodrigo ended up returning the gift and getting his money back. 

On our walk back to our cars, we passed a homeless man with a cup out. He did not speak up or ask any of us for money, he just sat there silently. Rodrigo asked me if he could give money to him. I told him that of course he could do what he wanted with his own money. So then Rodrigo took out the cash he got back from returning his gift and placed the money in the man's cup.

I told Rodrigo that he had done a very good thing and asked him why he decided to do that. He responded bluntly with "well, my sister didn't want it so...". I chuckled and was instantly reminded of the Parable of the Great Banquet. That was when I knew I needed to and would be a part of the O'Keefe ministry for awhile. A young middle school boy who hadn't (yet) really owned his faith had shown me, someone who claims to own their own faith, a part of God I hadn't even engaged with in a long time.

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Big-hearted Jackpot winner

Beida is an elementary school student who has been in our program for 3 years. She recently won the jackpot in a Who Wants to be a Millionaire board game after tutoring. We asked her what she would do with the money, and she said she would "give it to the poor." Not only is she a bright student, she also has a big heart!

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Prayer Requests

• More Tutors
  ​We currently have about 20 tutors in our rotation. But because we have more students and are opening the program to middle school students, there is need for more tutors. We have also been blessed with a lot of new tutors this school year but would appreciate prayers for some more!
• Safety
  Also, the whole community could use prayer for safety at this time given current political events. There is a lot of fear among families here. 

Thanksgiving

Thanks to your $500 donation, we will be able to do the following:

• Use $300 to go on a field trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on 11/11, to cover the costs of tickets and transportation for the students.
• Use $100 to buy new books that are appropriate for our students' reading level
• Use $100 to buy school supplies

​We appreciate our continued partnership with Agape Fish Fund! Thanks again for your generosity and support, whether financial or spiritual, and we look forward to continuing to partner with you to do the Lord's work in EPA!