Volunteer Geri Rincon helps at-risk students in the I Have A Dream program at Sunset Middle School hold onto their dreams.

The organization adopts entire groups of students from elementary schools or low-income public housing sites and works with them and their families through high school. The program provides long-term personal and academic support, tutoring, mentoring and four-year tuition-assistant scholarships.

Rincon works with students, called Dreamers, to achieve their educational and career goals. The Sunset location is the site of one of six such classes in Boulder County.

“It is because of her wholehearted commitment to the long-term success of these students that my classroom is thriving today,” said Mary Williams, an AmeriCorp member who supervises Rincon.

Volunteering has helped Rincon expand her own horizons.

“People want to judge, but when you see what (the Dreamers) have been through, what’s going on in town, just a few blocks away — a lifetime away — that you may have been oblivious to, the program is really about opening your heart to these students,” Rincon said. “We’re also there for the AmeriCorp students (who run the tutoring program).”

Rincon volunteers two to four hours each week, helping the young lady with whom she has worked since first grade. Rincon also has become a familiar name with all of the students in the I Have A Dream program at Sunset Middle School by assisting during the after-school tutoring sessions. She explained that the Dreamers have the typical hopes and dreams of other students, but that they often feel like outsiders because of their financial or family situations.

Rincon has helped others hold onto their dreams. Before moving to Colorado, she helped immigrant women in California to learn English. “Being a Mexican-American, I have an affinity for the Spanish-speaking community,” she said. “(The Dreamers) just need somebody to have faith in them,” Rincon said. “Our children are our future. If you do really believe that, then help one kid at a time.”

For information about volunteering with the I Have A Dream Foundation or other agencies, call the Volunteer Connection at 303-444-4904, or go to our Volunteer Central.