Celebrating Mission Grants: Read to Achieve at Lynch Chapel UMC

By Laura Lea Williams, Mississippi Conference Staff        
 
Photo right: One of the many smiling faces attending the Read to Achieve program at Lynch Chapel UMC.
 
School might be officially back in session now, but for some active and retired teachers in Clinton, Mississippi, classes continued like normal. Those teachers and some volunteers worked their summer away to help around 25 children. Their goal, to improve the literacy rates of students within their community with the Read to Achieve program. Since 2014, the Read to Achieve program has been working towards improving literacy skills with a special focus on learning: make it fun. 

The Read to Achieve program is sponsored by Lynch Chapel United Methodist Church in Clinton. This program was founded after members noticed some students needed enrichment in their reading lives.

Though Lynch Chapel is located in Mississippi's highest rated public school district, Read to Achieve was founded after families in the Lynch Chapel community were surveyed about education. The survey revealed there was a need for summer reading enrichment programs for 5-12 year olds. The four week program centers on keeping learning fun, exciting, hands-on, and relative to the real world while also keeping class sizes small.

Lynch Chapel strives to live out the Mississippi Conference Core Values through the theme The POWER of We. The members of Lynch Chapel want every child's experience within the church to be filled with safe, enjoyable, and loving moments growing within God's presence. Read to Achieve received a $1,000 matching grant from the Mississippi Conference Connectional Ministries to help afford school supplies and curriculum for the children.

The Mississippi Conference Connectional Ministries Mission Grants are a matching grant available to United Methodist churches and United Methodist sponsored or related agencies in Mississippi. Grants range from $500 to $2,500 per project, with one award of up to $10,000. They are awarded to form spiritual leaders, new places for new people, connections through existing congregations and engagement in ministry with the poor; therefore, living out the four Core Values of The POWER of We.  


The POWER of We funded in part by your apportioned mission shares.