Parishioner Sue Barrow has been teaching English as a Second Language for nearly 20 years. In 2017 the Family Literacy Program lost state funding, but this past year Souderton Mennonite Church graciously supported the class financially and provided volunteers to assist in the adult and children’s classrooms through July.  It was important to keep this ministry going, so Sue asked Deacon Tim Lynch if there might be room at St. Jude to teach her students voluntarily through the summer. St. Jude graciously welcomed the program for the month of August. The following is a conversation between Sue and St. Jude’s Communications Director, Jeannette Williams.

Jeannette: Sue, please tell us why you reached out to St. Jude.
Sue: Our program runs the same as the local school district.  Previously we have been funded, but we did not win the funds during the competition year.  I didn’t want to stop teaching these women and their children – they have such a yearning to learn! This is a needed and important ministry.

Jeannette: Tell us about your students. You have both mothers and children?
Sue: Yes, during the 2017-18 program year, we served 47 families - 49 adult learners and 60 children.  During our summer class at St. Jude’s we served eight families, 11 adults and 14 children. Our families come from all over the globe: Puerto Rico, South Korea, India, Egypt, Lebanon, Guatemala, Mexico, and the Congo.

Jeannette: Tell us a little about how you run the program.
Sue: Well, this summer I was focusing on conversation and pronunciation. We would sit in the Narthex while the children played in the next room and study conversation dialogues and how to correctly pronounce words and letter sounds. Sometimes parishioners or clergy would walk through and spend some time talking with us, which was wonderful! It was great practice for the students, especially for the students who are always nervous to speak to native English speakers.

Jeannette: This all sounds wonderful. But what are your plans now?
Sue: Fr. Cheung at St. Maria Goretti will host us for the school year, since they have an empty school building. They also have a large Vietnamese population, who may also need to use the services or perhaps volunteer.

Jeannette: Do you need volunteers?
Sue: Yes! Since we’re not being funded right now, we do need help. We need people willing to tutor our beginning students, or join us for a cup of coffee and just chat, or help with the children while the mothers study. We have a couple of families in need of transportation to the class. A volunteer who’s coming anyway might be able to drive someone to St. Maria Goretti Education Center. We could also use gently used children books or school items for the mothers, like mechanical pencils and copy books, since many of these people come from lower incomes and are in need of assistance. We could also use paper products, snacks, Clorox wipes, hand sanitation gel, tissues, paper towels, etc… 

Jeannette: I hope some people will be inspired to reach out to you to volunteer or donate items. How can people contact you for more information?
Sue: They can call me at 215-380-4434 or email me at [email protected].
We hope to have our program grow so that we can have an open door policy and be able to do what Jesus asks of us in Matthew 25:35 “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

Jeannette: Thank you, Sue!