Twelve year old Annie knows when it’s time to go to school. Every other Tuesday the Maltese mix therapy dog and her owner, Assistance League member Barbara Swartz, join a classroom of 11- and 12-year-old students at Olive Elementary for 90 minutes. Barbara volunteers in the HALOS reading program, which stands for Helping a Little One Succeed. Fluffy white Annie, a much loved figure in Mr. Kavanagh’s 5th/6th grade combination classroom, is a kind of ice-breaker as well as a calming influence during the tutoring sessions. The results have been impressive: Last year the reading level in his classroom improved 150 points, the most of any class at Olive. He calls the program a “weapon of mass instruction.” Originally offered only at Olive Elementary, HALOS was started by Assistance League members Kathy Leichtfuss and Cindy McCandless. Besides Olive, volunteers now go to Taft, La Veta and Running Springs elementary schools to work with a varitety of grade levels. HALOS offers the 20 members who volunteer in these classrooms a very meaningful way to positively impact the lives of children in our community.