Warren County High School senior Reagan Whitlock assists students with homework. From left, Kaden Pascal, Whitlock, Mia Pascal and Rosa Vanloo study after school.
Dream of one, mission for many
Kids of the Community reaching out to children in need BY LISA SAVAGE
T
yler Keener struggled in math, barely getting by when he started at Kids of the Community’s after-school program several years ago. But help with homework and one-on-one tutoring in math through the program have made a big difference for the Warren County High School senior.
A donated building on Cadillac Lane in McMinnville is home to Kids of the Community.
8 | March/April 2019
Christie Allison, a volunteer for Kids of the Community and director of tutoring, provided aid that Keener says turned his math grades around. “She has helped me learn so much,” he says. “I appreciate everything they’ve done for me.” But it’s more than just homework and tutoring. Kids of the Community, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making a better life for all children, provides opportunities and activities for about 220 kids in the McMinnville area. “I’ve been able to go places and do things I never could have done without Kids of the Community,” Keener says. It’s kids like Keener who motivate Allison to make sure kids have a safe place to go after school, to receive help with homework and to have fun activities to do throughout the year. Kids of the Community started about 20 years ago as a vision of Barry Dishman, director of juvenile courts in Warren County. “Kids would end up in court, and he would ask them ‘Why did you get in trouble?’” Allison says. “They would tell him they didn’t have anything else better to do, so he set out to change that.” Kids of the Community flows through the juvenile courts system, and Dishman is the director of Kids of the Community. Lacy Jones and Haile Adams, probation officers for juvenile courts, also are coordinators for Kids of the Community. Ben Lomand Connect