06/01/2011

Over-The-Rhine Learning Center Continues to Serve and Uplift Members of the Community

An uplifting report from Leslie Cook of the Over-the-Rhine Learning Center, a special outreach ministry of First Lutheran Church, Cincinnati.

Sharon first came to the Learning Center in 2004. Basic Reading Program student, Perry, had met her on the bus and invited her to come to us for help after hearing of her needs. Sharon is a single mother of two, living in Mount Healthy. She was a high school graduate but had enrolled in college only to realize that she needed one-to-one assistance in writing those papers. We did not yet have our GED program component for higher level curriculum then, but I was able to pair her with a tutor, Stephen Spoerl, who lived on our corner here, and is a poet, a waiter, and has been a part-time, freshman English instructor at Northern Kentucky University. Pastor and I also worked with her in a couple of subjects when things came down to final deadlines.

Then she was gone for a some years and came back to us since we acquired our fabulous GED math tutors. All she needed this time was to pass her math class to be eligible for graduation. Several of our math tutors worked with her as she came in and out—she was held back by her extreme timidity and lack of confidence, social and otherwise. She is so easily intimidated by "authority." At one point, she was one test away from completing her credits, but moved the same weekend as the final exam, and could not emotionally handle all that anxiety at once. So, I believe she had to retake the entire course.

Sharon called last week in her new, strong, happy voice (the first time ever) to let us know that she graduated from Chatfield College! She said she had gotten a new, understanding, and helpful math teacher at Chatfield who helped pave the way for her overcoming that final obstacle. But she really called to thank her tutors, including Mark (our newest GED grad), who mentored her towards the end.

As we have all experienced in our working together, it truly does take a village, and a whole lot of time for those who have come up in poverty to achieve goals. If I understand correctly, she is now working part time at Urban League. Bottom line, is that seven years later, Sharon has an associate degree, more confidence, and new options at her feet which will benefit her, her two boys, and their entire future together. I guess this is why we are here.

First Lutheran is a mission start of the Southern Ohio Synod and is a pivotal center of ministry in the Over-the-Rhine area of Cincinnati. Your mission support helps make work, like that described above, possible. Thank you for supporting the greater ministry of our synod and the ELCA.