On most weekdays, Lou Finley can be found at the Boys and Girls Club on Alto Street, tutoring first- and second-graders in reading.

"What we try to do here is fill in the gaps with each individual child," Finley said as she laid out some crayons before a Thursday after-school session of Rocket to Reading — or, as it's commonly known, Lou's Reading Program. Finley has stocked most of the supply cabinets — which are stuffed full of books, worksheets and crayons — with her own money.

It is this effort that earned Finley a spot as one of The New Mexican's 10 Who Made a Difference. She was nominated by a volunteer of the Finley's program, Jane Brickner, who writes, "We all get tired of people saying they believe in this or that but don't do anything. Lou is an example of someone who is actually doing something wonderful."

Finley moved to Santa Fe in 1995, but was familiar with the area because she made frequent trips here to purchase art for her three Los Angeles-based galleries. After careers in multiple fields — advertising, gallery owner and real-estate agent — Finley retired and moved to Santa Fe. She started to do volunteer work, such as being a Big Sister for Big Brothers Big Sisters. In 2003, she won the Big Sister of the Year award.

Then one summer she began volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club in the art room. She noticed that all the crayons were broken and inquired about purchasing new ones. She was told to make a request with the board of the Boys and Girls Club. Instead, she became part of the board. Finley said board members are required to make a donation and instead of donating cash, she started purchasing supplies.

She later started working in the "reading room," but sometimes would take the class outdoors, where she'd spread out a blanket and read to the children.

"When we read to the kids, it seemed to me that they weren't doing as well as they should," Finley said. "The children didn't seem to be very imaginative."

Finley thought the ticket to get the children to exercise their imagination would be to start a "poetry imagination class."

"I brought all this stuff from the house and told them, 'Pretend that you just landed from Mars and tell me what you think this item would be,' " Finley said. "The little boys got into it because they figured out all these crazy things."

The class grew from seven to 25, much too big for Finley to read to the group. "That was a total failure," she said. So instead, she started a tutoring program four years ago.

One of the first seven kids in the poetry imagination class came back a few years ago to thank Finley.

"She came up to me — she was one of the first seven — and she said, 'Thanks to you, I can read,' " Finley said. "That just thrills me."

On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 3:30 p.m., the youngsters line up outside Finley's reading room and she gives them their instructions while the volunteers are ready to get down to business. She lets the children into the room five at a time so they can get their folders, which include both their work and notes between volunteers regarding what each specific student should work on. The students sit where they want and they can do their school homework, the worksheets that Finley supplies, read a book, write something or study flashcards of letters.

"If I think they've worked hard enough, then they can draw a picture," Finley said.

Finley said her program helps to "fill in the gaps" when it comes to a child's education. "We get first-graders who sometimes don't even know their alphabet, even though they've been to kindergarten," Finley said. "We sometimes find children in here who haven't yet been evaluated and find they have special reading needs."

Finley notes that sometimes the little ones are leery of the program. "Almost every year I have at least one child who will start to cry and say they don't want to come in here," Finley said with a laugh. "Then a lot of times, they're the first ones to line up."

Although Finley still donates supplies to the program, she has started working with Borders Books. The store encourages customers to buy books to be donated to Finley. She has also secured a few grants to help pay for things.

Finley is always looking for more volunteers and said that it's a wonderful experience.

"It either keeps you young or kills you," Finley said with a hearty laugh. "The best thing is that sometimes children say, 'I can't read,' and you work with them a little bit and tell them if they know the alphabet and they know the sounds of the alphabet, they can read."

She said that moment when her students start to work through the words successfully and she's able to say, "You realize you're reading," is one of the best moments. "It's really great when that happens. It's just very nice to know that children who come in here are really behind, but when they leave here they've really progressed."

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillo@sfnewmexican.com.