April 2017

were the first to commit and then

over 90% of our staff committed

to give monthly to support this

vital work in our community.

Darla will host an Open House at

FLC on April 23. She is inviting

guest that may like to learn more

about our work. In turn, each

month a different board member

will host an Open House. Open

House guest will be given an op-

portunity to become a Faithful 50

member. If you would like to

receive an invitation, please con-

tact a board member or call our

administrative office at 229-638-

2104.

The first quarter of 2017 was

one that will not be quickly

forgotten in Albany, Georgia. It

was such an affirmation of how

in everything there is always a

silver lining. I don’t know

about you, but after my experi-

ences in January, I am very

proud to call Albany my home.

The incredible people of this

community showed great com-

passion, generosity, and a ca-

pacity to work hard to help

each other. Many from outside

our community joined forces

with us and phenomenal things

happened. I can not imagine

finding a more caring place to

live.

Family Literacy Connection

experiences the generosity of

the Albany community on a

regular basis. We are so grate-

ful for the support of friends in

this extraordinaire work we get

to do and we know that with-

out that support we would be

spent. Donations many times

arrive when we are experienc-

ing great need.

The Board of FLC adopted a

new fund raiser during last quar-

ter called the Faithful 50. We

are only beginning, but are so

blessed by the caring hearts and

generous spirits of the people of

Albany.

The Faithful 50 was the idea of

one of our newest board mem-

bers, Mrs. Darla Harms. Darla

presented the idea to our board

and the members present got

on board with the idea. The

idea is to have 50 people com-

mit to make a monthly donation

to FLC. Our board members

Literacy Lines . . .

Accomplishments:

25 PARENTS RECEIVED GED

INSTRUCTION OR ADULT BASIC

EDUCATION

2 PARENTS GAINED EMPLOYMENT

1 PARENT, NICOVETTE JACKSON

PASSED THE GED TEST CON-

GRAUTULATIONS. NICOVETTE!

YOU MAKE US PPROUD!

20 VOLUNTEERS GAVE 212

VOLUNTEER HOURS

PARENTS AS TEACHERS SERVED 54

FAMILIES WITH 193 HOME VISITS

PARENT EDUCATORS GAVE 37

ASSESMENTS TO PRE-SCHOOL

CHILDREN

47 PARENTING CLASSES WITH

5 3 H O U R S O F

INSTRUCTION

READING AND RACQUETS AFTER

SCHOOL PROGRAM SERVED 33

CHILDREN WITH TENNIS IN-

STRUCTION, TUTORING AND

HOMEWORK HELP

33 CHILDREN RECEIVED EARLY

C H I L D H O O D

DEVELOPMENT CLASSES

Family Literacy

Connection

PO Box 1497

406 West Highland Ave.

Albany, GA 31701

Laugh for Literacy Update

DCFLC Board of Directors

chose to forego this fund-

raiser this year in light of

the needs of our communi-

ty. We hope you weren’t

too disappointed.

Many Thanks to our

FLC Faithful 50 ! $11,868 in annual pledges

Sandy & Bill Bamford

Cheryl & Randall Calhoun

Byne Memorial Faith Sunday School Class

FLC Employees

Alan & Marilyn Greer

Darla Harms

Judith Landau

Roger Marietta

Leah & Duane McCaskill

Jane Turner

Jerry Wessels

Sincerely Sandy . . .

Ordinary acts of love and

hope point to the extraor-

dinary promise that every human life is of inestimable

value. -Desmond Tutu

Will You

Help?

painted their beards with

forks. The students and

group leaders completed a

fun science experiment with

mentos and diet coke. They

went outside and put four

mentos into the diet coke,

this caused a reaction and

the diet coke shot straight

up like a geyser. Our monthly parent meet-

ings have been a hit. In Feb-

ruary, we discussed the 40

Developmental Assets. Af-

ter the discussion, the par-

ents and students participat-

ed in a survey where the

students got to question

their parents about their

childhood. The students and

parents had a great time and

shared a few laughs.

The students and staff at

Reading and Racquets have

had an eventful Winter. The

storms in January damaged

Tift Park where we play

tennis, we had to find new

courts to practice on.

We are happy to announce

that we now playing tennis

at the Albany Area YMCA!

The students love playing

tennis on their beautiful

courts and we are grateful

for our new partnership. Our students have been

busy with their activities. In

February, they created bird

feeders for the hungry birds.

In March, for St. Patrick’s

Day, the students created

leprechauns on paper and

Reading and Racquets . . .

porarily displaced. Through

that, she kept her eyes set on

the prize of her high school

graduation and did not waver.

But, she is not stopping there,

her goal is to graduate college

in order to be able to provide

for her son.

After graduation, Karla would

plans to attend Albany State

University for Graphic Design

or Early Childhood Educa-

tion. She also dreams of going

further by attending Valdosta

State University.

Karla says about our Parent as

Parents As Teachers . . . Teachers program. “It’s very

interesting and makes you

think about your motherhood

or parenting really like…it

makes you rethink about things

you think you have done

wrong, but are really right”,

We are so very excited for

Karla’s achievements and can’t

wait to see her graduate in

May. We look forward to being

with her in the next stage of

her life as she becomes a col-

lege student.

Watch out world, here comes

Karla and Kris!

Karla Owens is a 17 years old

mother who was referred to

Family Literacy Connection in

December 2016. Her two year

old son Kristopher is happy,

smart and energetic. Karla has

overcome many obstacles in

her life.

Despite them all, she has never

allowed them to prevent her

from continuing her education.

Karla attends Dougherty

County High School and will be

graduating May, 2017.

After the January tornadoes in

Albany, Karla’s family was tem-

The students whose par-

ents attended the meeting

were treated to a fun day

of bowling at the Bowl-A-

Rama. The students had a

great time. There are only two

months left of school and

Reading and Racquets is

getting ready for the sum-

mer program. The summer

program will begin June 5.

Be sure to get your child

registered for summer fun!

Add caption Add Caption

Add Caption

Faithful Supporters . . .

We would like to say a special thank you to the ladies of the Faith Sunday School Class at Byne Memori-

al Baptist Church. These sweet ladies have sent a mission offering to FLC every month for years. Their

faithfulness in supporting missions in our community is admirable. We are most grateful for their contin-

ued support and affirmation of the work we are doing each day. Our faithful partners encourage us to

continue t “Transform Families through Literacy.”

Volunteer Spotlight . . .

Child Development Center . . .

and ham for breakfast. After

breakfast we had volunteers

come to read Dr. Seuss

books to our children. They

all had a great time.

Parent and Child Together

(PACT) is fully operational

and giving wonderful oppor-

tunities for parents and chil-

dren to have fun together.

Parents as Teachers (PAT)

and the CDC facilitate an

activity each month for fam-

ilies to participate in the

early childhood classroom.

Our Child Development

Center (CDC) has several

new faces. Ms. Eunice Butler

is our new Preschool teach-

er and Ms. Shaquanda Rivers

is our new infant teacher.

They have been a great ad-

dition to our staff. Leading

our CDC is Mrs. Ashley

Nestale. Ashley’s calm man-

ner and sweet spirit set a

wonderful environment for

our staff and children.

We celebrated Dr. Seuss’s

birthday with green eggs

In February, the parents and

children used paper to cre-

ate a heart. A beautiful valen-

tine’s day quote completed

the card. The children and

parents had a great time.

Adult Education . . .

Our mission at Family Literacy

Connection (FLC) is to help

disadvantaged families gain

stability, self- sufficiency, and

success through a cluster of

educational programs that

target the entire family. Many

of the students who enroll in

FLC face barriers, adversities,

and have several high risk

needs characteristics.

Kensy Sabillon, a 24-year-old

native of Honduras enrolled in

FLC in February. Similar to

many of our students, Kensy

was a teen mother, had low

education attainment, and low

income. Kensy also had anoth-

er obstacle to overcome; she

does not speak English fluently.

Kensy moved to the United

States at the age of 17 in hopes

of getting an education and

having a better life. Unfortu-

nately, because of family hard-

ships, Kensy wasn’t able to

attend school. Instead, she

decided to help her family fi-

nancially. Kensy join the food

industry as a waitress. When

Kinsey was18 years old, she

had a daughter, Audrey Alva-

rez. After having her first

child, Kensy was still unable to

attend school; she now had her

own family, a daughter to sup-

port. This was the beginning of

her career as a housekeeper.

Kensy is a housekeeper for one

of our board members who

repeatedly told her about FLC.

About a year and a half ago,

Kensy got married and had a

son, Abdiel Lopez. Kensy’s

husband has a great job, this

gave her the opportunity to

attend our program.

Kensy entered FLC on a Level

E (third-grade level) on the

Test of Adult Basic Education

(TABE). After only one month

of attending Family Literacy

Connection, Kensy has im-

proved two grade levels. Ken-

sy is very dedicated and deter-

mined to get her education.

She refuses to let her language

barrier stop her. Even when

the odds were against her,

Kensy persevered and was

Kensy, Audrey and Abdiel

resilient. She is a beautiful, soft-

spoken, kind, and motivated young

woman with sweet, precious chil-

dren. Mrs. Kensy Sabillon exempli-

fies superior honor and discipline in

our Adult Education class, therefore

she has earned the Citizenship

Award this quarter.

Ms. Rivers and the Infant Class Natasha and son Monquavious

Kirsten Hope is our volunteer

spotlight for this quarter. Kirsten

is an Albany native and is cur-

rently enrolled in Albany State

University. She is working to-

wards her bachelors degree in

Psychology. Her plan is to stay

in school until she is Dr. Kirsten

Hope..

Ms. Hope chose psychology as

her focus because she wants to

Kirsten Hope

help people better themselves.

She is currently interning with

us at Family Literacy Connec-

tion. Volunteering as an assis-

tant in our Adult Education

classes is a great help to our

students and teacher. Our

students love Ms. Hope and

always look for her when she

isn’t there. They find her lis-tening ear very helpful when

they are struggling.

”Kirsten learned about FLC

through a health class at ASU

when Ms. Calhoun was a guest

speaker. She wanted to intern

with FLC because she believes

it has “great programs that

work to help the community, I

believe they offer life skills and

give the students real world

experiences.” Thank you Kirsten for caring and coming

to help our students!

The mission of Family Literacy Connection is to help disadvantaged

families gain stability, self-sufficiency, and success through a cluster of

educational programs that target the whole family.

A special thank you to our

sponsors and partners!

Working together to make a difference!

January, February, March 2017 Donors:

Bill and Sandy Bamford

Angie Barber

Janice Blaylock

Allison Burris

Randall & Cheryl Calhoun

John W. Culbreath

Lee & Rose Daniel

Darla Harms

Dr. and Mrs. Louis W. Landau, Jr.

Roger & Joanne Marietta

Leah & Duane McCaskill|

Eric and Ashley Nestale

John Nestale

James and Janice Rentz

Kirk Rouse

Jane Turner

Gerald Wessels

WM & Sandra Westmoreland

Amazon Smile Foundation

Byne Faith Sunday School Class

Oakridge Construction

Pfizer Foundation United Way Campaign Life Gate Church

THANK YOU!

“Transforming Families Through Literacy”

Like us on Facebook

www.facebook.com/familyliteracyconnection

www.facebook.com/ readingandracquets

FLC is in great need of books for pre-school

children. Our PAT Parent Educators gives the

children a book at home visits. If you have new

or gently used books for preschoolers or if

your group could collect books for us,

please contact our

PAT Supervisor,

Cheryl Vinson at 229-886-3719 or

cherylv@familyliteracy

connection.com.