St. Paul’s works together with our ecumenical friends – St. Mary’s Episcopal, St. Mark’s Lutheran, and St. Eugene Catholic Church – forming “Loving Neighbors,” to do outreach/mission work in the neighborhood. Currently, “Loving Neighbors” helps Claxton Elementary School with “Summer Escape” and “Reading Buddy” program, helping children in poverty to develop and enhance their reading comprehension skills.

Especially, the “Reading Buddy” is a school-year-long program to help kindergarteners and first graders with their reading skills, because we have learned from poverty seminars how poverty keeps children from growing physically and academically, and how it perpetuates the deadly cycle of poverty/failure/possible incarceration.

The focus is building relationships, so that through meaningful relationships the children may grow confident and competent, overcoming the limitations that their immediate environments impose on them. Those of you who are interested in signing up for once a week, 30-minute tutoring with one child, please call St. Paul’s office at (828) 252-6512 or e-mail at vera1@stpaulsumcasheville.org.