Agnes Stevens dies at 79; former nun and schoolteacher founded School on Wheels
Agnes Stevens, a former nun and schoolteacher who founded School on Wheels, a nonprofit group that helps homeless children stay in school by giving them tutors, backpacks and other support services, died Feb. 13 in Ventura. She was 79.
The cause was complications from Sjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune disease, said her brother, Bill Stevens.
Stevens formed School on Wheels in 1993 after 30 years of teaching elementary school. In two decades it has grown from a one-woman operation to a nationally recognized program with 1,800 volunteer tutors serving 3,000 homeless students a year throughout Southern California.
The tutors come from all walks of life and go wherever homeless children are, from shelters and skid row hotels to doughnut shops, libraries and foster homes. The program provides basic necessities, including bus tokens and classroom supplies, and helps with enrollment and the transferring of academic records. It also has an 800 phone number that enables students to stay in contact with the group despite being constantly uprooted.
One of the reasons Stevens created School on Wheels was to give homeless children some stability.
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http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-agnes-stevens-20150222-story.html
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