When her youngest son started 1st grade, Liz Woratyla began a search for a volunteer opportunity. She was interested in combining working with disadvantaged children with her love for music. She indicated this possibility on her volunteer application for Water Street Ministries. The day we received Liz’s volunteer application in the mail happened to be the same day the administrator for the Wonder Club Early Learning Centers, Lorraine Brandt, requested a volunteer music teacher for the students! God truly does meet all of our needs at Water Street Ministries!
Soon a partnership began. Every week, Liz teaches six music classes between Wonder Club’s Lancaster City Center and Columbia Center.
Shapes, numbers, and other foundations of pre-K curriculum are familiar to Liz because of her own children’s experiences. She doesn’t have formal training in music education, but she says music is one of the ways she played with her three boys. Like other high-impact volunteers at Water Street Ministries, Liz is simply using what she knows and loves to make a difference.
Liz wants to give the children multiple ways to access their memories. “One of my focuses in class is to tie music to other experiences,” Liz explained. “One time we sang Ba Ba Black Sheep, and I brought in pictures of shorn sheep and pictures of not-shorn sheep. I brought in a sweater so they could feel the wool.”
In her desire to serve the children, Liz applied for a grant to supply the classrooms with musical instruments, like step bells, wood blocks, triangles, maracas and drums. “I bring in my guitar or my son’s trumpet to introduce them to instruments, but I wanted everyone to be able to play at the same time,” Liz explains.
At Water Street Ministries, volunteers don’t plug holes; they partner with the Ministry to change one life at a time. The impact of Liz’s music class is evident; students can now identify instruments, recognize pitch, and echo. “We start with kids who have trouble just clapping to a song,” Liz explains. “But after a while, they not only catch on in class, but they take what they’ve learned back to their homes!”
Like other high-impact volunteers involved here, Liz has responded well to the influence and responsibility she’s received in her volunteer position. It also helps that Liz identifies with Wonder Club’s goals to establish a foundation in young children for a lifelong love of God and a lifelong love of learning. “If kids can see school in a positive way plus as a place that’s giving them the Christian message, it’s a very good thing,” Liz says.