Twin sisters Angela and Katlyn Lawver look amazingly alike, with their spirals of long red curls and flashing smiles. Their passion and zeal for helping others, however, is also very much identical.

The girls, who are juniors at Dover High School, went on a mission trip last summer to work with inner city kids in Tennessee. There, a seed was planted.

“We loved what we did there, but we knew there was a need here for kids who needed tutored, who were getting left behind in school,” explained Angela.

The sisters were particularly concerned about the children whose parents have immigrated to the area from Spanish speaking countries, as often the parents speak little or no English and find it nearly impossible to help their children with their homework. They contacted Dover High School Spanish teacher Sherrel Rieger, who is very involved in volunteer work with local Hispanic families, as well as middle school ESL (English as a second language) tutor Connie Smith, with their idea of starting Camp Imagine If!, an after school tutoring program for Dover’s grade school and middle school Hispanic students.

“We started this Oct. 7, and the first day we had 15 kids,” Angela noted. “On the first day, we were praying that God would bring the kids all here, and we would figure it out along the way. Now we have about 30 kids, plus 30 tutors. We work one-on-one with them, as that is the best way to help each kid with their individual needs.”

The sisters have recruited other high school aged teens from Dover, New Philadelphia, and Garaway High schools as tutors.

“The whole purpose is to model for them how to do homework. They see how these high schoolers do it, and how to study. They learn how to be a good student themselves.”

“The high school teens have been wonderful, and are doing a great job,” said Connie Smith. “The Lawver girls are just amazing. They keep in contact with the children’s teachers, so they know what the specific needs are.”

The Dover Alliance Church has graciously opened its doors to the program, which takes place on Thursday afternoons from 3:30-5 p.m. each week. Church members also donate snacks for the children, as well as use of the church van for transportation. Children are divided by age, and in addition to tutoring, are provided with recreation and teaching times. Plans call for a three-day a week program in the summer.

“I like Miss Rachel because she helps me with my homework. Books are my favorite, especially princess books,” chatted Edith, a 6-year-old kindergarten student, as she worked with her tutor, Dover High School student Rachel Dummermuth.

“Katlyn and Angela had talked to me about doing this over the summer,” said Dummermuth. “The whole idea just fascinated me, because I really wanted to help people.”

“They have points they accumulate for what they do here. We call them dollars with the older kids, because the idea of money seems to work better with them. The younger ones call them points. At the end of the year, they can ‘shop’ for toys and other things,” explained Angela. “They are really working hard and looking forward to that.”

“We would be grateful for donations of art and craft supplies, and also any type of small toys or other items that we could put in the rewards store. Books are great, for grades kindergarten through eighth-grade,” commented Katlyn.

She grew reflective when asked about the overall motivation to take on a project with such overwhelming responsibility, but only paused a moment before flashing the twins’ trademark smile and answering.

“We are best friends, so we do a lot of things together. We figure out ideas together, and we like to play with little kids. When we got this awesome idea, we decided to do it. We build off each others’ strengths, so we can make a difference.”