'One of a Kind' Mentor Does More Than Help Kids

Last year when Joshua's 2nd grade class made Mother's Day cards, he said he didn't want to.

His mother is in jail; his father is out of the picture. Joshua lives with an aunt.

His mentor at told him it was all right. He could make his aunt a card, or make his mother one and keep it until she came home.

"I just helped him work through it," said Joshua's mentor, Tom Schuber. "They just need someone to listen to them."

It's that kind of balance that school officials say Schuber, 61, has given to all his kids in his seven years of mentoring. At Annette Winn, he is one of 17 one-on-one volunteer mentors who help kids in need of a little bit of extra attention.

"He's a very unselfish, giving person," said Amelia Butler, a counselor at the school. "He remembers their birthdays and Christmas. He is really there for his student."

Schuber, who retired in 2000, spends an hour a week with Joshua, and another hour a week with a mentee he followed to middle school.

Mentors can follow kids "as long as a youngin' wants you to be there, or needs you to be there," Schuber said.

Sometimes Schuber eats lunch with Joshua and sometimes they play games. One day Schuber asked him if he wanted to pull up weeds in front of the school. The duo ended up with a nice little garden of pansies and lilies.

Most of the flowers are dead this time of year. "But that's okay," Schuber explains. "It was fun."

Planting a garden is only one of the many tasks Schuber has taken on at the school where his wife, Deborah, teaches. He's done everything from fixing an electric pencil sharpener to playing janitor for a week when the real custodian was out. At Christmas, Schuber and his wife played Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

"He's up here every day," Butler said. "He's a wonderful asset to have around."

Schuber enjoys watching his middle school mentee play basketball during his P.E. class. The boy has struggled with his anger.

"When he was here, he was a holy terror," Schuber said. "It's good to watch him get knocked down and get right back up and play. He's much better now."

Schuber's family moved to Lithia Springs when he was 11. He graduated from Douglas County High School and then studied carpentry at what is now Atlanta Technical College.

Schuber's story about how he met his wife of 37 years is a little confusing to follow, but it appears she is the cousin of Schuber's brother-in-law. The couple has two adult children.

For 29 years, Schuber worked for Georgia Public Broadcasting, building the sets used on television. An illness forced him to retire early.

But each day he gets up and drives his wife to work. He helps her set up her classroom. Butler said she told Schuber at one point that if he was going to be at the school all the time, he might as well do something meaningful.

And so he did.

"I just love the kids," Schuber said. "I hope I'm doing something to help them."