Inspiration

Hall of Fame

Roberta & Merrill Simon

INSPIRATIONAL STORIES

In the past traditional school year, SAFF has offered in-home/after school academic tutoring to 275 children and teens ages 6-19 in the Washoe County foster care system. The progress and success stories are abundant. Elementary school children being promoted to their rightful grade level; middle and high school students rising from ‘D’s’ and “F’s” on report cards to ‘A’s’ and “B’s and ‘C’s; high school students who were previously expelled, on suspended, failing achieving ‘Dean’s List’ and ‘Honor Roll’ rankings; seniors passing state mandatory proficiency testing and graduating with ‘traditional’ diplomas rather than ‘adjusted diploma’s; students exiting the system at the age of 18 and entering college on scholarships.

Children and teens in foster care, being assisted by SAFF, are developing health identities through the SAFF-supported educational-therapeutic program of Equine (horse therapy). Within six months of creating a relationship with Nevada Assisted Equine Therapy, over 30 youth were enrolled in this educational program.

Preventing youth from participating in destructive actions, teaching them to be creative , children and teens are studying vocal singing lessons – performing in public recitals throughout the year. In 2011, a 12 year old who entered the system afraid, trepid, shy, and insecure, sang solos at three different public recitals and sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” to a Family Court Judge in a packed court room on adoption day.

Students from elementary, middle and high school levels, performed in SAFF’s fundraising theatrical plays A MURDER MYSTERY ‘WHO DUNN IT” and ‘AN EVENING WITH EDGAR ALLAN POE.’ In 2011, students began working on an original drama based on a true 1944 story of a 15 on death row who died in the Nevada Prison gas chamber at the age of 17. This theatrical and radio production focuses on the young boy’s last letter to his grandma when he wrote “if given a 2nd chance, I know I can prove to the world there is still something good in me and I can still doing something good.”