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CNS Story:
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BRIDGES May-27-2009 (810 words) xxxn
Catholic-run Mercy Bridges program provides literacy training, hope
By Gary Loncki
Catholic News Service
ERIE, Pa. (CNS) -- Told by her mother to leave the home they shared, Beth (not her real name) was only a teenager -- pregnant, alone and confused.
Caring grandparents took her in and helped her through the pregnancy.
Beth, who gave birth to a baby girl, had a dream of working as a nursing assistant, but lacked the reading skills necessary to be accepted into a program. Her grandmother steered her to Mercy Sister Edwardine Weaver and Mercy Bridges, a Sisters of Mercy adult literacy program in Rochester, N.Y.
Beth had been a student in the Mercy Bridges program for some time when her grandfather died. Her grandmother suggested Beth proclaim one of the readings at his funeral Mass.
Thanks to Mercy Bridges, Beth had learned much and after working with her tutor to review the reading, she stood proudly to read at the Mass for the grandfather to whom she was so close.
"She read beautifully and, for those who knew her story, there wasn't a dry eye in the church," Sister Edwardine said.
Beth is just one of so many touched by Mercy Bridges.
"It's more than teaching our clients reading, writing and speaking," said Sister Edwardine, who spent 50 years as a teacher, principal and superintendent of Catholic schools for the Rochester Diocese. She also was a professor at the University of Rochester.
"Much has to do with building self-esteem and making a difference in the lives of people," she said in an interview.
Three years ago, Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy held a summit to address the area's high illiteracy rates, which he and others believed contributed to crime and violence. There, Sister Edwardine and Mercy Sister Nancy Whitley shared the idea of a literacy program and sought to work with other literacy agencies.
"We wanted to be collaborative, not competitive," she said.
Various agencies approved and supported the idea for the program, and in August 2006 Mercy Bridges was selected as a "jubilee ministry" for the Rochester Sisters of Mercy as the community celebrated its 150th anniversary.
"We didn't have so much as a paper clip," said Sister Edwardine of the early days.
With Dorothy Lindsay, a Mercy associate and longtime educator, Sister Edwardine established the structure for Mercy Bridges. A $22,000 Mercy Action Grant provided funds to help train tutors and establish at the Mercy Center motherhouse a resource-material center that offers instructional materials and computer software programs.
Today the program also has a Web site, www.mercybridges.org, and a newsletter.
Sister Edwardine explained that volunteer tutors come from all walks of life, particularly that of education. The program currently has 65 active tutors.
Tutors take 21 hours of training that is spread out over three seven-hour sessions in collaboration with Literacy Volunteers of Rochester. Mercy Bridges gives each tutor a profile of each learner with that person's educational background and an assessment of current language and reading skills, study habits and learning style.
According to Sister Edwardine, some of those in the program are immigrants like Lawan Buffum, who came to the United States from Thailand in 1994. Buffum worked in food services at Mercy Center and did not speak English well. She entered the program two years ago and continues to meet with a tutor to improve her speaking and reading skills.
"Now that I can read better, I have a lot of confidence," said Buffum, a married mother of a 6-year-old boy.
Buffum said she can communicate better with fellow employees and others. In fact, she was promoted to manager of Our Lady of Mercy High School's cafeteria. But her real delight is at home, where she can help her son with homework and read to him at night.
Others in the program are people who did not finish their U.S. education. But according to Sister Edwardine, nearly half the learners are refugees from Cuba, Burma, Ethiopia, Puerto Rico, Russia, Somalia, Sudan, Ukraine and 19 other countries. Twenty-five languages in all are represented.
She said Mercy Bridges is unique in that it takes tutors to the learners; they meet one on one for two hours each week in public libraries, church facilities and agencies. Each of the 127 people currently enrolled to be tutored has signed a commitment to stay for a year.
Grants and donations keep Mercy Bridges running. Peggy Wegman, wife of Robert Wegman, who founded the Wegman's grocery store chain, is among the many supporters whose efforts helped to initiate the work of Mercy Bridges.
Sister Edwardine said Mercy Bridges takes no federal funds, allowing it the freedom to serve many who cannot access other programs.
"We place a good deal of time in developing relationships, building self-esteem, helping people to be self-confident and able to set stable goals for their lives. We strive to be a community of learners," she said.
END
Copyright (c) 2009 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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