The mothers who live at Good Shepherd Shelter have often been caught up in a cycle of domestic violence, and at the shelter they work with therapists, teachers, and sisters to realize their own gifts, worth, and power.

The children at Good Shepherd Shelter are usually one to two grade levels below their appropriate grade level, often because they have been trying to function in a chaotic home environment and may be victims of physical and/or sexual abuse themselves. Often the family has been uprooted several times in an effort to hide from the abuser, and the children may have been in several schools in the past. In some cases, the children experience a language difficulty or a learning disability. Many of our children are Spanish speaking, although most are bilingual.
 

One female volunteer is needed to work with approximately 10-15 mothers on life skills, job preparation, computer skills, and English.  By focusing on these skills, the volunteer empowers each mother to discover her own self-dignity and abilities to live a healthy, secure, and full life with her child(ren).

Three female volunteers are needed to serve as teachers in our elementary tutorial center, which addresses approximately 25 children in grades K-7.  Each elementary teacher has approximately 5-10 children, usually at one to two grade levels.  She works closely with the therapists to provide for the children a secure and therapeutic environment, the appropriate attention they need, a positive experience of school, the opportunity to develop healthy social skills, and the chance to accelerate their academic progress.

The responsibilities of the volunteer teacher are:

To plan lessons and teach a group of approximately 5-10 children in various subjects, including reading, math, social studies, science, art, English, and spelling.

To plan and implement various activities for the whole group, such as sports, outdoor
activities, crafts, art. "plays", and "show and tell".
Some of these activities are done with the other teachers working as a team.

To work closely with the interdepartmental team (teachers, therapists, apartment living staff)
in coordinating services and brainstorming on the best way to serve each client.

To supervise volunteer mentors for individual children in the group. We have mentors from
Loyola High School, Loyola Marymount University, and University of Southern California.

To attend in-service training sessions, interdepartmental meetings, and teachers’ meetings.

To have parent-teacher conferences to help facilitate parental involvement in the school's
expectations. Most of the mothers have not been "allowed" by their abusive partners to be
involved in their children's school, so they don't know how to correspond with the teachers regarding their children’s work/behavior in class.  Training in this area further helps each mother responsibly
become the sole head of her household.