Jane started volunteering at NICE in January 2011 after she retired from a long career as a librarian. She decided she wanted to spend time giving back to the community and chose NICE as a place to spend her free time. Since then she has contributed countless hours of volunteer time in NICE’s Education Program as an ESL teacher. Jane is a natural born teacher with enthusiasm, dedication, and compassion. Initially, Jane started out teaching two days a week, but shortly thereafter she realized the great need and desire for her students to learn English. This realization, her interactions with students, and her compassionate spirit gave her the incentive to start volunteering four days a week. Jane has been instrumental in providing many refugees and immigrants the confidence and building blocks to sustain a successful life in America. She currently teaches a full class of beginning students who love having her as a teacher and appreciate the efforts she puts forth to change their lives for the better. Jane willingly takes on changes and challenges with a smile on her face and a willing spirit. She has a heart that knows no bounds and has even provided transportation for a student who otherwise would not be able to get to class regularly. NICE has many great volunteers and Jane is one of them. She stands out due to her personality, dedication, and love of her work. After realizing that she needed further education to be a more effective teacher, Jane enrolled in a Teaching English as a Second Language course and has spent over twenty-hours a week in a class to improve her skills. The impact she’s had on NICE’s Education Program and NICE’s clients has been profound. Her time alone has been a tremendous help to a program that relies so heavily on volunteers and she sets a great example for other volunteers. Having a dedicated volunteer committed to helping out each week, continually working to improve her skills, and openly loving what she does is truly a blessing for this organization.
