TORUS

In 2021, Torus provided 4,106 hours of English classes (3,578 hours of one-on-one classes and 528 hours of group classes) to 230 English language learners. English learners in our program come from many different language backgrounds and a total of 26 different languages were represented. Examples of the languages spoken are Spanish, Russian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Farsi. Torus volunteers have been essential in the success of this program and a total of 229 ESL instructors participated in 2021. Volunteers from Oregon and across United States have been getting involved in this virtual opportunity and supporting the community here in Oregon. Torus has collaborated with the Rosewood Initiative to vaccinate people in SE Portland. We provided bilingual interpreters to bridge the cultural and linguistic gaps and help with vaccination efforts. After taking our English classes, some learners expressed interest in getting the vaccine, others were interested in volunteering too! We invited learners to volunteer and interpret with us as well as get vaccinated at Rosewood. From May 2021 to October 2021 Torus volunteers and interpreters have helped the Rosewood Initiative to vaccinate approximately 200 SE Portlanders each Saturday from 12 pm to 5 pm PST. For pictures click on this link: https://www.torustransforms.org/new-page

In 2021, The Torus Ambassador program conducted 148 hours of virtual language meetups across 5 meetups (Japanese, Spanish, Mandarin Russian and Vietnamese). We provided these sessions with 6 Vietnamese-speaking volunteers, 4 Spanish-speaking volunteers, 4 Mandarin-speaking volunteers, 4 Russian-speaking volunteers, and 6 Japanese-speaking volunteers (total 24 Meetup Volunteers).