Posted at: 04/03/2009 10:31 AM | WHEC.com
Updated at: 04/08/2009 3:02 PM
By: Nikki Rudd
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2009 ESL Jefferson Award Winner: Robert Silver
A Brighton man has dedicated decades of his life to helping others. These days you can find the Princeton and Harvard graduate at the Boys and Girls Club on Genesee Street.
There is a lot of reading that happens inside the walls of the Boys and Girls Club and that’s where you can find Robert Silver. His place is at the accelerated reading program four days a week.
The 83-year-old Brighton man dedicates his time to help inner city kids. Bob says, “It's a chance to do something and feel like there's some reason for me still to be around, you know?”
Bob, or Mister Bob as the kids call him, helps children become better readers. As part of the after-school program, kids who need a little extra help work with volunteers like Mister Bob. Silver says, “It makes sense if you can help kids learn to read, you're going to help them have a better life.”
So far this year the kids in the accelerated reading program at the Genesee Street Boys and Girls Club have read more than 6,000 books. They read 5,000 books in all of 2008.
