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Strategy and Prayer . . .
At least one thing was made clear at the recent Together at the Table Hunger and Poverty Summit at Baylor. The challenge of hunger and poverty is being tackled with prayer, strategy, and optimism by some of the biggest hearts and sharpest minds in the country.
Tony Hall, director emeritus of the national Alliance to End Hunger has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times. He said, "Hunger has been cut in half. We believe we can end hunger by 2030."
In this state, the Texas Hunger Initiative, directed by Jeremy Everett, leads the charge. Among many other advancements, THI is responsible for millions of summer meals being added in recent years to those available to kids.
Linda English and Lester Meriwether presented What's for Lunch? Feeding Kids' Bodies and Minds at USDA Summer Meal Sites. They shared how providing books and activities increases participation in summer lunch programs.
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La Vega ISD's bookmobile makes stops with the Lunch Bus Express one day a week in the summer.
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Since kids in low-income households have less access to reading materials, causing them to lose ground academically over the summer months, enriching meal sites with books makes perfect sense. Research shows reading just four to six books over the summer may be enough to prevent learning loss. (Heyns 1978, Kim 2004, White House 2010) |
Linda, a clinical assistant professor of economics at Baylor, described her church's work with their Adopt-a-School partner, Brook Avenue Elementary in Waco. For the past two years, Columbus Avenue Baptist Church has implemented Book Nook @ Brook, with a lending library and activity center for the kids who come for summer meals. This summer, the program doubled its number of participants from last year and checked out over 1,000 books to readers.
One of the participants explained, "I'm so happy we get to take the books home to read . . . there's nothing to do at my house. My family owned a book once, but after we read it, we gave it to a neighbor, so they could get the knowledge from the book."
Columbus Avenue Baptist Church made sure families will continue to enjoy the knowledge from many books in their own homes. Church members built 105 bookcases which they provided to families, along with books, at a giant summer's end family reading fair.
"The goal is to create life-long passionate learners," Linda said. "It's not only going to help them be better readers, but it's going to help them in life."
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Nuts over Reading for the Holidays . . .
Giving books to family and friends is a great way to share a love of reading.
Giving pecans through Nuts over Reading is a great way to advocate for the work of Literacy Connexus to your family and friends and to help share your love of reading with children in need.
For $50, a one-pound tin of delicious Texas pecans from Leonard Farms of Granbury will be delivered to the recipient of your choice. The package will also include:
- notification of donation made to Literacy Connexus in their name
- brochure describing our work
- option of a personal message from you
Thirty dollars of your payment will be a tax deductible donation to Literacy Connexus.
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Order deadline is November 11, 2015.
Pecans will be shipped by November 18, to be received in time for Thanksgiving.
Two Steps to Ordering Pecans:
- Click Buy Now below to pay by PayPal
- Recipient's name and address in ship-to section
- Separate transactions required for each receiving address
2. Reply to this email
- Provide us with your mailing address
- Specify nut flavor (from 6 choices above)
- Indicate personal message to include (optional)
If you have any questions, call 817-696-9898, or click REPLY and let us know what's on your mind.
Thank you for supporting the work of Literacy Connexus!
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December TEX Training . . .
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Lester Meriwether, Executive Director
Offices at Henderson Hall - Agape Baptist Church
3954 Southwest Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76116
Mailing/shipping address:
3020 S. Cherry Lane, #123168
Fort Worth, TX 76121
817-696-9898 www.literacyconnexus.org
 
Pam Moore, Editor
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