Franciscan Sister Mary Beth Kornely shares about a recent opportunity to read to students in Mound Bayou, MS.
Sister Judanne Stratman and Sister Mary Beth Kornely along with a couple other employees of St. Gabriel Mercy Center, were able to take part in an initiative planned by Floyd Stokes, the founder and Executive Director of the American Literacy Corporation. Mr. Stokes, who currently lives in Pennsylvania, returned to his home town of Mound Bayou and organized 15 members from the community to read to students in K-6 grade at Mound Bayou’s I.T. Montgomery School in early September.
Students were ready to hear stories selected for their grade level. Sister Mary Beth chose “Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type” for a group of first grade students. Sister Judanne selected a book on important black literary figures for a fifth grade class. We were all surprised to see Sister Mary Beth’s picture on the front page of the local newspaper that evening while Sister Judanne appeared on the local TV News Program that night in the clips they showed from the news of the reading endeavor.
You never know in what ways we can be present to the people where we serve.
