Six People Who Make A Difference-Not A Politco In The Bunch

Community Builders - Six in 2006

You told us about them. We picked them - six people from the hundreds nominated by Star readers for making their community a better place

Jeff Pinchuk
Bill Moxey
Ulla Colgrass
Gail Barkic
Mohammad Atieque

Christian Cotroneo
Toronto Star

The teacher that shaped Sherece Harry's life the most was likely her worst.

He was the one who suggested she couldn't keep up with advanced studies.

And he predicted that many students would end up filling positions at the local Burger King.

For Harry, it was the anti-lesson.

"I wanted to get smarter," the 30-year-old recalls today.

And so she did, vaulting from a junior high school average of 48 to the honour roll.

Today, the unlikely lesson lingers, as Harry helps struggling children from the Jane and Finch community ... get smarter.

Harry is the Homework Club.

Since 2003, she has been running an after-school program, aimed at helping children between the ages of 6 and 13 struggling in school. The program was launched from Inner City Outreach, the local agency where Harry began volunteering as a social work student.

Olu Jagede, a youth minister at the nearby Christian Centre Church, proposed the idea of helping kids outside of the classroom, and today, he's still instrumental in finding funding to keep it alive.

But Harry's compassion lends the program its heart.

"These are kids who have really hard exteriors. Kids who aren't even really kids," she says. "They know so much about living in social housing. So much about incarceration. They know about the criminal justice system – well beyond their years.

"I'm just trying to see above and beyond their situation."

Harry distributes pamphlets at schools in the neighbourhood, liaises with their teachers, and prepares worksheets. With the help of a volunteer, she ensures the children have healthy sandwiches. Sometimes, students from a teaching program will even step into the classroom – the rooms are borrowed from local schools – to lend a hand.

Somewhere in the rush, Harry earns a living for herself. She begins her days at her Mississauga home, in the pre-dawn gloom, before commuting to her job at a Toronto call centre. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, when the club is in session, she races to the outreach centre to prepare for the children. The day often stretches to 8 p.m.

Harry was nominated by her older sister, Cordella Williams, who helps out at the Homework Club when she can.

"I nominated her because I see the hard work that she does. I see what it does for the kids. She wants to help out that community, to help the kids better their lives."

But sometimes, when Harry faces a particularly rambunctious horde, she second-guesses herself.

"I'm exhausted and I'm getting yelled at, told off," she says. "What do I get out of this?"

Harry charges $5 per child, per month for the program, so parents can preserve some dignity and say they've hired a private tutor for their child.

The reality? "I think I got like $40 for 40 kids for five months."

Growing up near Jane and Sheppard, Harry was the middle child of three daughters – part of a team that often went on camping expeditions and weekend getaways together.

But at school, she was nursing a failing average. So the 13-year-old took it upon herself to set things right. Instead of following her friends to the same middle school, she decided to attend an institution outside of her district. Harry flourished in a new environment, soon soaring to the honour roll.

"I pulled up my socks from there."

And today she's pulling up the socks of a new generation

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