English in Action

As many of you know, for many decades my dad was a very active volunteer for many non profit organizations. For the last couple of years one of those organizations was English in Action here in the Roaring Fork Valley. Many times he expressed how much he had learned from his "student", Ignacio, who improved Dad's Spanish maybe as much as Dad improved Ignacio's English. It was something that Dad was very dedicated to and looked forword to every week. I got a very nice e-mail from English in Action that they wanted to share on the blog:



Hi Emily,



We were so sad to learn of your father’s death. Tom was a volunteer for English In Action and I thought I would send the following to post on the blog if you would like to.



For the past year and a half Tom has been a volunteer tutor for English In Action, a program to help immigrant adults learn English and participate more fully in our community. He will be remembered with gratitude and admiration by our staff. We didn’t know Tom well, but he impressed us with his kind spirit and thoughtful nature. Tom was incredibly generous with his time and made a tremendous difference in the life of his student, Ignacio. Ignacio and Tom had been meeting with since September 2008. Ignacio lost his vision to glaucoma six or seven years ago. He lives in Basalt with his wife and daughters, but was quite isolated due to his blindness and the fact that his English was limited. Each week Tom would take Ignacio to the library, Basalt Town Hall or the English In Action office for his lessons. The chance to spend time away from home was very important to Ignacio. Ignacio’s English improved dramatically through his time with Tom and the companionship that Tom offered him was invaluable. Ignacio tells us that Tom had such a positive attitude and was always willing to help him. Tom showed a great deal creativity in his ability to help Ignacio learn English, even though he could not use books or traditional teaching methods with him. We know that Tom volunteered for other organizations and we believed he made a substantial difference in the lives of people throughout our community.



Sincerely,

Lara Beaulieu, Liz Penzel and Chris Palasz

The staff of English In Action