Blue Gargoyle needs volunteers

The Blue Gargoyle Youth Service Center is in great need of volunteers, according to Andrea Cosans, the center's Student Volunteer Bureau Coordinator.

"The needs of the Blue Gargoyle educational programs are so great that we currently have a 90-person waiting list for individual tutoring and nowhere near enough volunteers," Cosans said. "We also need volunteers for two new programs that are slated to start in mid-January."

In the middle of this month, a homework center will open as part of an after-school program at Kenwood Academy, and a tutoring program will be offered at Jackie Robinson Elementary School in the Oakland community. The center's volunteer bureau also coordinates an individual tutoring program at the Blue Gargoyle, after-school tutoring programs at the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club and Fiske Elementary School, a volunteers-in-the-classroom program at Kozminski Academy and a safe-haven program at the Ida B. Wells housing project.

"The number of volunteers at the Gargoyle has doubled in the past five years, but more help is critically needed," Cosans said.

Volunteers are asked to donate a minimum of two hours a week. For more information, call 955-4108. The Blue Gargoyle is at 5655 S. University Ave.