After a week of news about national events, this Sunday we get to turn our attention to our own locale. FUUSN’s special collection will benefit the Waltham Alliance for Teaching, Community Organizing, and Housing (WATCH). This small but mighty organization has a broad range of strategies to serve the poor and build community. Here’s just one example.

Over 1,400 adults have taken its free classes: English as a Second Language, GED, and citizenship. To help aspiring English speakers practice, WATCH recruits volunteer tutors. One tutor, a FUUSNite,  describes her first student as a woman from El Salvador, who had had no schooling beyond third grade. She worked hard to learn English and advanced from cleaning office buildings to being a supervisor. Newly confident, she was thrilled with her fluency at work, not to mention the ability to speak with her daughter’s teachers. She attributed her competency to WATCH.

You will be asked on February 9 to donate generously to this special collection. You may make checks payable to FUUSN, with WATCH in the memo line. If you forget your checkbook or miss the service, you can follow up with a check to Fran in the office.