Volunteers are what drives Literacy Connexus. In churches, teaching or helping in other ways. At the office, helping churches help people with literacy needs. We are blessed to have a new VISTA beginning this week. VISTA stands for Volunteers in Service to America. As we say good-bye and thank you to Allison Blush, we welcome Wendy Ross who joins Literacy Connexus:

In 2009 I decided to make a career change, and with encouragement from my husband, family, and friends, my family moved from Lorena, TX to Arlington so I could start the MSSW program at UTA. With the doors that subsequently opened, we all knew that God had a plan for me to work helping people, and took it on faith that the details would be provided in His time.

AmeriCorps is the channel through which I found Literacy Connexus, which not surprisingly is a faith-based organization with strong ties to the area from where I was originally called to serve. I am pleased to work with a program determined to improve literacy rates in Texas, and even though this is my first week here, I can tell this objective is being pursued very compassionately and effectively.

I will be working with and learning from Robin Feistel and Lester Meriwether to strengthen and expand church programs that teach English to speakers of other languages (ESL). While I only speak one language (unless you count Texan!), I can draw from my personal experience of living in a foreign country and not knowing the language. I can appreciate the fear and frustration that may result from not being able to communicate with people. Helping people transcend a language barrier is vitally important work--work that I strongly believe churches need to be performing in their communities.

I'm happy to join Literacy Connexus!

Wendy Ross

TEX (Teaching English with Excellence)