Tutoring Hero Brian Thomas Hockenmaier

In this quote, Fr. Arrupe intended to convey that Loyola's main objective is to educate students to be the kind of people who work for justice, even if it means setting aside their own wants and needs. One person in my life that works for justice for the least of her neighbors is Betty Whitney, an elderly lady who runs the tutoring center at my church. Actually, Betty is the one who started the tutoring center, and it has now helped more than 300 needy children. The children (who range from kindergarten to 5th grade students) often come from difficult family situations, and usually cannot find help with their schoolwork by consulting their parents.

Betty began the project about four years ago, when she retired after having worked as a teacher for 40 years. The tutoring center is funded only by donations and a small amount of the church's money, and every tutor (myself included) is a volunteer. She was able to convince the church to let her use an old farmhouse on the property as the tutoring building, and started the center through an organization called Project Understanding. She and her husband renovated the building and set up the center, and then started recruiting volunteers from the church and community. She is...