Ten years ago, Odalys Silvera led a small tutoring group of seven children in the Auburn Public Library. Today, that tutoring group has grown into Esperanza House, a nonprofit that now serves 278 children across Auburn and Opelika.
Esperanza House is a Christian-based nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for low-income Hispanic families in Lee County.
While Esperanza House meets the needs of its families in several areas such as food insecurity and healthcare, the heart of the organization is its after-school tutoring program, according to Silvera’s assistant and Auburn alumna Ainsley Green.
Esperanza House’s after-school tutoring program takes place at its Auburn and Opelika locations Mondays through Thursdays from 4:45 to 6 p.m.
“That’s just a great time for our students to connect with volunteers who are mostly college students and just be mentored and form a relationship with them and then also be tutored,” Green said.
Sydney Hill, senior majoring in Spanish education, began volunteering at Esperanza House in the spring of her sophomore year. What started as casual volunteering soon became a central part of her college experience and even changed the course of her future career.
“I mean, I would say — like not to be dramatic — but I changed my major from English education to Spanish education because I realized I wanted to teach ESL,” Hill said. “So, when I started at Esperanza House, I thought, ‘This is amazing.’ I love the relationships I’m able to build with people.”
Silvera emphasized the importance of building relationships with the families and students who are served by Esperanza House’s various programs.
“We do provide for the families, like back-to-school supplies. We do provide for the family camps. We provide different things like food boxes, but everything is based on tutoring. And if they don’t come to tutoring, they cannot be in the program. So we want to build the relationship,” Silvera said.
Through the last decade, Esperanza House has been successful in retaining the same students, even seeing them through college and university. Silvera boasted about ten of Esperanza House’s students who have pursued higher education, four of whom are attending Auburn University on full-tuition scholarships.
“Esperanza House, it means hope. So it’s for them to have hope, hope that yes, they can do better,” Silvera said.
While she is proud of her students who are succeeding academically in the program, Silvera’s ultimate mission is to help them build a relationship with Jesus Christ. Through its partnerships with multiple churches in the area, Esperanza House connects its students with youth programs, primarily with Auburn Community Church.
Hill fulfills this mission well through her principal role with the organization: leading a Bible study with a group of seventh and eighth-grade girls. Having already been very involved at Auburn Community Church, taking on this role was a natural extension of her service with Esperanza House. It also allowed her to interact with the students outside of the designated tutoring hours.
“We can give them material stuff, they can get education, but they cannot do anything without Jesus Christ. That’s why we do what we do,” Silvera said.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn’t accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don’t charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
Emily May, senior majoring in public relations with a minor in creative writing, has been with The Auburn Plainsman since August 2021. She previously served as the Social Media Manager and is currently serving as the Operations Editor.
Share and discuss “Esperanza House: Building bridges in the Loveliest Village” on social media.
