A Community Project

Last month I had the pleasure of attending a seminar hosted by Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship about the Adopt-a-School program. The seminar was incredibly informative and explained the connection between children who can't read by the fourth grade (due to poverty and language barriers) and future incarceration rates. In other words, projected prison growth is determined by how many kids can't read by the fourth grade.

Let that sink in for a few moments.

That means if your 10-year-old nephew, niece, neighbor, or child is struggling to read, he or she is exponentially less likely to graduate high school and much more likely to become incarcerated within the first year of dropping out of school. And, in Texas, 60% of public school children live in poverty , so there is a great number of at-risk children. It was emphasized throughout the seminar that the church must begin taking concrete, influential steps toward helping the public schools by providing additional support and prayerfully aiding the children and families around us. We must do what we can to support the teachers, administrators, and families represented in our local schools to deter the trend of high school dropouts, deteriorating families, and self-imploding communities. It's time for the church to truly be the church.

My church desires to have an increasing presence in our community schools through service, donations, and special projects. We have only begun this process, but we look forward to witnessing how the Lord will use us to further share his love with others. So, when we heard about a local middle school teacher who serves high-risk, high-poverty students with reading challenges, we began thinking and praying about how we could help. We decided to do a simple, Amazon shopping list for this gifted teacher who is overwhelmed by the needs of her students. If you would like to contribute to her classroom needs, please view the list below, choose the items you would like to purchase, and ship them my way (the items on the list should automatically ship to my address, but if not, please message me and I'll send you my address). Our aim was to make involvement as easy as possible! Here is the list:

Reading Teacher Gift List

The teacher we are helping has 110 students in grades 6th, 7th, and 8th. Class sizes range from 15-19 students, and every class contains students in different grade levels. The set up of the classes alone make her job challenging, let alone that many of the students are several grade levels behind. The students often come to school hungry and lack basic essentials such as toiletry items and weather-appropriate clothing. She personally shared with me that it seems she's "gone through 6,000 pencils" since the beginning of the school year! She is good at what she does, but I know when a teacher asks for help that he or she must REALLY need help. Can you help us bless her?

If possible, I'd like to have items shipped to me by Friday, November, 17th so I can prepare them during Thanksgiving Break. I realize that's not an incredible amount of time, so just let me know if you perceive a need to wait until ordering. The reading teacher is beyond excited and thankful for our participation, and I know as a community we can go much farther than I or even my church can do to provide for her students.

Thanks, friends! :)