Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Roy Dockery
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000096S
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00:01 Did you know that millions of American Children can't read
00:04 and that puts them directly on the drop-out track? 00:07 Well, stay tuned to see what my guest 00:09 is doing about it... 00:10 My name is Yvonne Lewis and you're watching 00:13 Urban Report... 00:35 Hello and welcome to Urban Report... 00:38 My guest today is Roy Dockery 00:40 a Literacy Consultant that is on a crusade 00:43 to make a difference... 00:44 Welcome to Urban Report... Roy... 00:47 Good afternoon... good afternoon thank you for having me... 00:50 Oh, it's so great to have you because this topic 00:53 is one that's so near and dear to my heart... 00:56 I mean... reading is so fundamental 00:59 and yet... millions of Americans can't read... 01:03 tell us a little bit about that problem... if you would... 01:07 Well, you know, it's a critical issue... like you said... 01:10 I mean the fundamentals for 01:12 education and the fundamentals of being able to be 01:15 successful and independent in life really come from 01:19 the ability to read... like... to be able to take instructions 01:22 to be able to pick up a book or to even pick up a manual 01:25 right?... to be able to follow a process 01:27 and complete a task or to complete an objective... 01:30 so, you know, with people not really 01:32 taking the time to pay attention to literacy within the Country 01:36 we tend to focus and overlook 01:39 the underlying issue, right? which is the fact that we have 01:42 a problem in this Country, especially in particular 01:44 communities and with certain demographic sub-sets... 01:47 that we have... you know... there's an issue 01:49 that people can't read you know, without proper reading 01:52 and writing skills it's hard for people 01:55 to be successful... even in today's 01:57 fast-moving society... 01:58 Yes, it's something that we kind of take for granted 02:03 sometimes because... that's just what we do... 02:05 we read and we just kind of take for granted 02:07 that others can read... but if you think about 02:11 how crippled we would be if we couldn't read... 02:14 if we could not pick up that Bible 02:16 and read that Bible... if we couldn't do the things 02:19 that help us to grow... intellectually, spiritually, 02:23 I mean, this is a crippling thing 02:25 when you can't read... 02:27 so, I'm really thankful that 02:30 you and your Organization 02:32 and we're going to talk more about that in a minute 02:34 are doing something... let's talk about you, though, 02:37 what gave you this passion for reading? 02:40 well, I think, one of the things that really gave me 02:45 more of a passion for reading as I got older 02:47 and kind of got out of college and transitioned 02:49 into being a parent myself... 02:51 was trying to identify what skill... right... 02:54 that you want to emphasize to your children 02:57 Hmmm... So, I had a rather rough 03:00 upbringing... I was raised by a single parent 03:02 but, you know, the current household that I have 03:04 I have a stay-at-home wife, I have 2 daughters... 03:07 so, it was really trying to focus on, okay, 03:09 where do we need to invest in our children 03:12 to make sure that they're on the right track... 03:14 to be successful... so, one of the first things 03:16 we did when my oldest daughter was born... 03:18 and my wife first stayed at home was to make sure 03:22 that we emphasized in our home that she could read... 03:24 right... so we went out and we bought all the 03:27 we bought the "Hooked on Phonics" programs 03:29 and we bought "Your Baby Can Read" DVDs 03:32 you know for the first... 03:33 I mean, after, I think right around the age of 4 months 03:35 we just started consistently pushing... 03:38 you know, just reading to our daughter... 03:40 not necessarily... learning... but phonetics... 03:43 to knowing her alphabet and being able to read 03:45 is what we concentrated on for her first 2 years of life... 03:49 and, for me to see that transition, 03:52 in just allowing... her being able to read at such 03:56 an early age... she could read by the time 03:59 she was two... how that has kind of set her up 04:01 to be successful in so many other things... 04:03 so, when she enters into... when she does ballet 04:06 or when she does science or anything else... 04:08 her ability to be able to read, really makes instruction easier 04:13 it makes her excellent from an educational perspective 04:17 she's very articulate... why? because she has a larger 04:20 vocabulary because she's been reading for such a long time 04:23 and it just amazes people even when they talk to her 04:26 that she's five years old... and so in that... 04:29 being that was the standard that we had in our home, 04:32 it started to concern me when I saw other children 04:36 that couldn't read... and then, to even expand it 04:40 outside of that... I was a mentor 04:42 when I was in college and I mentored a 19-year-old 04:44 high school student that couldn't read all the words 04:46 on his college application, so, just kind of looking at it 04:50 from that perspective, getting kind of more actively 04:53 involved in community now that I was formally 04:56 in the military and so now that I'm out of the military 04:58 and have some of the... a little bit more freedom 05:00 and time to do a lot more community activism 05:03 literacy... it kind of came to me 05:06 as an issue right... because looking at the issues 05:08 that plague our Society... 05:09 I have a production company that did a film about 05:12 Trayvon Martin... you know, dealing with mentoring 05:16 and after-school programs and youth development 05:18 it started to become apparent to me... right... 05:21 that the underlying issue that I can pull 05:24 out of every situation... was the fact that 05:27 we have an issue with our youth 05:28 and just with our population in general... 05:31 that we ignore... which is when people don't know 05:33 how to read... it really makes it difficult 05:36 for them to have a definitive path 05:37 whether that's spiritual or whether that's their 05:39 personal path... 05:40 Absolutely... you know, you said some 05:43 great things... number one... 05:44 one of the things that really got me 05:48 is that... you started early 05:50 working with your daughter 05:52 and... and... not only... I mean... you weren't... 05:55 it sounds to me as though you weren't pushing her 05:58 but you were just reading to her... 06:00 you know, one of the things that we have to do 06:03 as parents... and this is one of the things that 06:06 sounded so great about what you were saying 06:09 you are involved with your children... 06:12 do you have one child or two children? 06:14 I have two children now, so I have a 5-year-old daughter 06:18 and a 3-year-old daughter as well... 06:20 Okay... so you're involved as a parent, 06:22 as a father... you are involved 06:25 with your children... and you have a wife that 06:27 gets, thank God, she gets to stay home 06:29 and also impact the children you know, in that way... 06:34 so, now, you can take your kids to the library 06:39 or do things that they need 06:42 to encourage them 06:44 academically... so now your daughter is 5 06:47 your older daughter is 5 and she has been reading 06:50 since she was 2... so the parental involvement 06:54 piece... is such an important piece 06:57 and one of the things... that I noticed... 07:00 is that... many times... for whatever reason 07:03 many times... in lower-income homes 07:06 there's so much chaos going on, that it's hard for the parent 07:10 to focus, often, on... those aspects 07:14 of the child's development, the academic aspects 07:17 either... there's a lot of chaos... 07:19 or the parent themselves are ill-equipped to assist 07:24 the children... so now we have a... 07:26 kind of systemic issue... but what's the blessing about 07:30 what you said... is that... you were able to help 07:33 your children... and I think... no matter 07:35 where you are as a parent, even if you have 07:38 learning issues yourself, you can become more involved 07:42 with your children's development I think... 07:44 this is a critical piece... because we can't just put it 07:47 on the schools... we have to take 07:49 personal responsibility... and do something 07:51 about our children's learning... Absolutely... 07:55 and I think the key words you said were 07:58 to take responsibility, right? 07:59 and especially with young children... 08:01 because the most critical ages for development 08:04 for children... most studies show... 08:06 are kind of up through the age of 5... right? 08:08 which is before... you can even put them in 08:11 public school and even in States... 08:12 I live in the State of Delaware, where Pre-school 08:15 isn't a State requirement... and the only way you can 08:18 get a child into Pre-school is that they have a 08:20 learning disability... so there is no K4... 08:22 for the normal children or even for what the State 08:27 would consider... a gifted child... right? 08:29 so, the most fundamental years of development... 08:32 there's no Society... 08:35 there's no public institution anyway to kind of promote 08:39 that learning and that education and so, I mean, originally 08:43 with me and my wife... it was a decision... that 08:45 she'll stay home... she was going to stay home 08:48 for the first 6 months... so we'll stay home 08:50 for the first 6 months... we'll be more comfortable 08:52 and then we'll see... how it goes from there... 08:54 but 6 months became a year and a year has become 5... 08:57 going on 6 years now... but... I was in the military 09:01 at the time so... it was a considerable sacrifice 09:04 for us financially for my wife to stay home 09:07 she has a degree... she was working as a 09:09 Physical Therapy Assistant... and so... but we made that 09:12 it's essentially... it's an investment... right? 09:13 because it's the trade-off between sending our daughter 09:16 to daycare where we didn't really see any facilities 09:19 that we thought.. what would continually 09:21 kind of try to instruct her... versus just observing her 09:25 and making sure that she was safe... 09:27 but I mean... from a financial perspective... 09:28 it wasn't a considerable investment... 09:30 we bought some DVDs... and we bought books... 09:32 from the thrift store... people have a... 09:35 some people jump back at Goodwill... 09:37 but... I have hundreds of books in my house 09:39 that we bought from Goodwill, 09:41 and we let our daughters pick them out 09:42 and we just... and we read to them... 09:44 but, the funny thing is that... I didn't... even at that time... 09:47 I didn't really understand that we were teaching her 09:50 literacy... right... we thought we were trying 09:52 to set her up for... we were educating her... 09:54 Hmmm... but we really weren't... 09:56 we weren't teaching her any topics right... 09:58 I mean, I've been an instructor for years 09:59 and done a number of things... so when I look at the 10:02 kind of instruction and teaching that I do 10:04 from a Corporate perspective... 10:05 we weren't really teaching her anything... 10:07 we weren't teaching subjects, 10:09 we weren't teaching Science or Math... 10:10 we were just teaching her how to read... 10:12 and so now, looking back at... the most fundamental thing 10:16 that we did... was teaching her how to read 10:18 and then seeing the way that it has benefitted her... 10:20 so my daughter is 5... she just graduated 10:22 from the first grade... so, that's a requirement for it 10:27 That's so cute... it's really just because 10:29 of the fact that that she's able to excel... even in school 10:33 because she doesn't need as much individual attention 10:36 because she can read the instructions... 10:37 now, when she was in Kindergarten... 10:39 no one else in Kindergarten could read the instructions 10:42 and she could... so it allowed her to be more independent 10:45 and it allowed her to be recognized... 10:47 as, you know, kind of a... as an exceptional student, 10:50 when the fact of the matter is... the only real difference 10:53 between her and the other kids in her class... 10:54 was that she could read... Yeah, and you know what Roy... 10:57 you said that you weren't teaching her anything 11:00 but you know what... you were not teaching 11:01 her subjects... but you were teaching her things... 11:04 you were teaching her the importance of 11:07 reading... to get a joy from reading... 11:09 you were... by example... you were teaching her 11:12 how significant it is... to know how to read... 11:15 so, even though you weren't teaching subjects... 11:18 you were teaching her... and then you were 11:20 teaching her the importance of parental involvement... 11:23 because... I think that... while we're not trying to 11:25 lay a guilt trip on mothers that have to work... 11:28 I mean... I was a single parent, I had to work... 11:30 you have to work if you have to work... 11:32 but if you can be at home with your children... 11:36 it's a great thing... because you can really reinforce 11:40 and nurture and shape... the values of your children... 11:44 so, I think if you can do that, it's a blessing to be able to 11:48 do that... and it's an investment... 11:50 like you said... it's an investment... 11:52 what about when you were growing up... 11:54 what was the environment like when you were growing up? 11:57 Well, I had a rather... I guess... I would call it 12:01 a tumultuous upbringing... so, I mean, my parents 12:04 originally got divorced when I was 2 years old... 12:06 so, I grew up... with a single mother... 12:09 and so, my mother, she worked... we spent a lot of time 12:12 at home alone... or with our grandparents... 12:15 my great- my grandmother on my mother's 12:18 side... actually took care of most of the grandkids... 12:21 so, is it was essentially a Day Care... 12:22 so it was all the grandkids 12:25 kind of running around the house... and unfortunately 12:28 in my family... just based from a traditional standpoint 12:31 there wasn't a lot of focus on education... 12:33 especially for the men... because all the men in my family 12:37 are mostly tradesmen... so, it's more... 12:40 working with their hands really, 12:42 than their working with their minds... 12:43 you know, I was taught how to do dry walling and how to do 12:47 other things but the only real focus... 12:49 the interesting thing... the only real focus we had on 12:51 reading within our family was reading the Bible... 12:55 so, at an early age... it was my great-grandmother 12:58 who actually used to spend a lot of time with me 13:01 going through different Scriptures in the Bible... 13:04 and I actually learned how to read... 13:06 by reading the Bible... and so, that's where my 13:10 literacy actually began... because 13:12 from a school perspective 13:13 by the time I was in the 11th Grade... 13:15 I was at my 13th school... we moved from State to State 13:20 You were on the 13th school by the time you were 13:24 in the 11th grade? Yes... yeah... in the 11th grade 13:28 I was at my 13th school... My! what a... 13:30 so, how did that affect you academically? 13:33 Well, the interesting thing is... I was... 13:36 school... to me has never been difficult... 13:38 and one of the reasons was because I was always 13:41 I mean, I guess I just kind of had a knack for reading... 13:44 so, even... same thing.. with changing schools so often 13:48 you missed a lot of days in class... 13:50 and so, to catch up was easy for me... 13:52 because I could read the book and comprehend what was in it... 13:54 so, even if I was absent, I could still get a good grade 13:57 on the test... academically, I didn't do bad... 14:01 I had good grades academically, but from a social aspect 14:04 I didn't interact much with other kids... 14:06 I never really had any direction or involvement from teachers 14:10 because I never spend more than 6 to 8 months 14:12 in the same school... so, going from school to school 14:15 you would develop a relationship with a teacher 14:17 and then 2 months later... we would move... 14:18 and so I didn't really have any strategic influences 14:22 even within the family or really even from 14:25 an academic perspective... of people 14:27 who were trying to nurture 14:28 or any kind of gift or development... 14:31 now actually I didn't really develop a love for reading 14:33 until I went to college... so, I kind of read 14:36 as a necessity to catch up and to be able to 14:38 teach myself things that I missed in school 14:41 or if I felt like acting up in school 14:44 then... I could just grab the book later on 14:46 at home and pick it up and read the subject 14:48 and be ready for a test, but I didn't even develop 14:51 a love for reading myself, until I was 19-years-old 14:54 and in my second semester in college 14:56 Wow... so you were 19-years-old when you developed this love 15:01 for reading... how did that happen? 15:02 It's an interesting way that it occurred... 15:05 I was actually... at that time I was starting to develop 15:08 a relationship back with my father 15:10 after we had been separated 15:12 for several years... as I went to college 15:14 and then... so from there what he did is... 15:17 he gave me a book... on a topic that I was 15:19 interested in... that he came across... 15:21 and so... that was one of the first books that I read 15:24 from cover to cover... right... it was interesting to me 15:27 and it was kind of different to read something 15:30 for a personal reason versus reading for school 15:32 or like reading the Bible or something... 15:35 something that I wasn't inherently interested in 15:38 at the time... so from that... what I did was 15:41 I kind of read that book and then I looked 15:43 in the reference chapter then I researched other things 15:46 by that author and from that point... 15:49 I just started building a library... 15:51 and I continued to read... and I continued... 15:53 and it was weird... because from that point forward 15:56 anytime I came across an interest or an issue, 15:59 I would read about it... Right... 16:00 so, yeah... so growing up without a father 16:03 and worrying about going into fatherhood 16:06 I would read books on fatherhood... 16:07 you know, spiritual development, I would read on discernment 16:10 I would read books on discipleship 16:13 so, it kind of expanded my horizons 16:16 to where I kind of didn't allow people, 16:19 it stopped me from allowing 16:21 people to give me information, 16:22 and it turned me into a person 16:24 who sought it out... Oh man, that's some rich stuff 16:28 right there, Roy, because... 16:30 okay... let's go back... you and your dad... 16:34 were kind of reconnecting and your dad 16:38 was encouraging you to read... 16:42 so he gave some books on topics that you were 16:45 interested in... that's number one... 16:47 one of the things we can do with our kids 16:49 is identify their interests and as long as these interests 16:53 don't compromise them spiritually, 16:56 give them books to read about their interests... 16:59 so, this happened with Ben Carson 17:02 his mom gave him something and he became an expert 17:05 in whatever it was that he was interested in... 17:08 you can become an expert, and what you did 17:11 you began to seek things out, you know... in the Bible... 17:15 there's an allusion to to the Bereans... 17:18 they didn't just take what they were given... 17:20 they sought things out... 17:22 they studied for themselves, 17:23 that's what you did... 17:25 you studied for yourself, 17:26 and you became... you became a seeker 17:30 of knowledge... and that's what I would love 17:33 for our kids to get this desire... 17:36 to know... for knowledge sake... 17:38 just to know... I want to know... 17:40 because I want to know... it's like... 17:42 instead of just like being on a 17:48 wild goose chase... focus on something... 17:50 that you really want to know more about... 17:53 and learn about it and then you become 17:55 an expert in that field... and that sounds like 17:58 that's what you did... and I applaud you for that... 18:00 I think that's so great... 18:01 And I think the interesting... I've just been traveling... 18:05 I travel a lot... I travel about 75 percent 18:07 of the time... for work... so I spend a lot of time 18:09 in the airport... and in us talking 18:11 there is an illustration that I think 18:13 makes it very clear on what it feels like 18:15 to be illiterate... right... because when you are at an 18:16 airport... you normally see a group of 18:18 tourists from another country, so when I was traveling 18:21 and I was connecting in to Vegas from Denver 18:24 there was a group of Asian tourists... 18:26 and they couldn't read the signs... 18:29 right... so they didn't know what gate to go to 18:31 they didn't know... so in everything they had to do 18:33 they had to seek someone's assistance... 18:35 someone had to direct them, someone had to guide them, 18:38 and we have people within our own society 18:40 who can't read... that need to take direction 18:42 in everything that they need to do in life 18:45 because they can't pick up a book or, you know, 18:47 go to a store to get the instruction that they need 18:50 directly... That is so true... 18:53 and you know what... that is a great illustration 18:56 because when you think about it if you go to a foreign country 18:59 and they have signs up... I mean, it's just gobbledygook 19:02 you have no idea what it says... 19:05 and so, tell us about the Organization 19:08 that you're working with that can change 19:11 our literacy gap here in this Country. 19:15 Yes, the Organization that I'm a partner with is 19:18 is TestOurKids. com and what that Organization does 19:21 is... it has a proprietary process of doing a 19:25 kind of a "reading assessment" on children... 19:29 so, it does reading, word recognition, phonetics 19:33 and basically... the other building block principles 19:37 of reading and literacy... to evaluate the kids and 19:40 to be able to give that picture to parents or even to 19:43 school organizations so that they know 19:45 where their children stand when it comes to literacy... 19:48 So, anybody can go to that website and sign up 19:54 to get their children assessed online... 19:58 is that correct? 20:00 That's correct... yes... if they go to TestOurKids. com 20:03 what they'll see is they can sign up to schedule 20:06 an assessment... because each assessment is also guided by 20:10 a person from the Organization that will kind of be with your 20:15 child as they take the assessment... you know... 20:16 try to assist them and guide them through the process 20:19 because they want it to be specifically... 20:21 the child being directed... directed by the assessment 20:24 itself... and kind of... without the interaction of 20:26 parents or someone really standing over their shoulder 20:28 so when my daughter took it, I basically set her in my office 20:32 we scheduled the assessment, the time started and 20:36 I just left her in there and she was directed 20:38 by them... she was directed by the assessment 20:41 and the person who was observing her evaluation 20:44 So, how does that... explain that a little bit more 20:47 for us... how does that work... somebody is observing... 20:49 is it like Skype... or someone is observing her 20:53 as she reads or how is that set up? 20:57 Yeah, so what it is is... 20:59 it's not like a video they can't see my daughter but 21:01 what they can see is what she's doing on the screen 21:03 so it's a computer-based... 21:05 it's almost like someone remoting into your PC 21:08 or into your computer where they can observe your 21:10 desktop... so while she's taking the exam... 21:13 they can the desktop... so as she clicks on 21:15 different words or if they kind of see her... 21:18 kind of drifting around the screen 21:20 not knowing which point to click... 21:23 then they can actually jump in and provide assistance 21:26 and so, during that time, at the beginning of it 21:29 she was on the... the representative from 21:31 TestOurKids. com is on the phone with my wife... 21:33 and then as my daughter kind of got into the assessment 21:37 and it kind of steadied out to where she was functioning 21:40 on her own... then they cut the conversation 21:42 with my wife... but if, during the assessment, 21:45 they would have run into an issue... 21:46 they would have called my wife back and said, 21:48 "It looks like... your daughter is struggling 21:49 with this... " and kind of help guide 21:52 through the completion of the evaluation... 21:54 and this sounds tremendous because... 21:58 what this is is... it's... you can't know 22:01 where you have to go if you don't know where you are 22:03 you need to know where you are... 22:05 so, this gives an assessment and lets the parent 22:09 know where the child is... and then... 22:12 you can... I would imagine... you could then kind of 22:16 chronicle the progress... and see how far your child 22:19 has come through this... so this is... 22:21 is this an ongoing process is it a one-time... 22:26 you get the assessment and then... what happens? 22:30 So, TestOurKids. com has the assessment tool 22:34 and it also has... it also has reading programs 22:37 online... so once the child is assessed 22:40 there are different programs online that you can have 22:43 whether it's online reading or different activities 22:45 and phonetics and the 8 key areas 22:48 that they children are assessed in 22:49 that the parent can enroll in 22:52 and kind of enroll their child in that school... 22:53 Roy, this sounds like an excellent program 22:56 because, you know, our kids are really kind of 23:01 geared toward technology so they can work with 23:04 the computer... get the information 23:08 and this seems as though it can bring 23:12 our kids from Level A to Level B to Level C 23:16 this is so, so critical... 23:18 what kinds of results are you getting with this program... 23:21 Well, from the Program Assessment 23:25 and the reading tools... the one thing it's also doing 23:28 on top of just encouraging parents to get their children 23:32 actively involved in reading is also spurring into community 23:35 involvement and having communities and 23:37 different community organizations reaching out... 23:40 to TestOurKids. com to help set up Reading Centers 23:42 as well... so, just providing those 23:45 resources... so, I mean, it's definitely an improvement 23:48 you can see the tracking improvement 23:50 with the children who participate in the assessment 23:53 and then have someone that kind of guides them through 23:55 improving the areas in which they're lacking... 23:57 So, a church, then, can... because this is not a religious 24:02 thing... this is just kind of neutral... kind of thing 24:07 a church can set up a Reading Center... 24:10 in the church for it's young people 24:13 and then, have them come there 24:16 and take part in this program and just... 24:19 in other words... offer a place... a safe place 24:21 like... some families might not have a computer 24:24 so the church has a computer, they can set up a program 24:28 for the young people for the kids to come 24:30 and get some... kind of tutoring without really 24:34 having anybody that has to actually do the teaching 24:38 it's built into the program, correct? 24:40 Correct... and that's one of the things that 24:43 I've kind of started in the early phases 24:45 which is reaching out to the churches that 24:48 even my own personal church and other churches 24:50 that I have connections with, and one... getting them... 24:53 to have the children of the church... assessed... 24:56 especially those churches that have a Christian Education 24:59 Department... or even their own private 25:01 Christian School... to have their children assessed 25:03 to see where their reading level is 25:04 and if they see a need... for reading development 25:07 within their children... then to work with 25:10 TestOurKids. com and organizations to build 25:13 a Reading Center that could not only be used for the church 25:15 but it can also be outreach... like you said... 25:18 literacy is non-religious it's non-partisan... 25:21 right? Everyone needs to read so even being able 25:24 to reach out into the community, 25:26 and be able to offer a resource 25:27 that says, you know, "Your children can come here 25:29 and we have programs and we have resources 25:32 where they can get instruction in reading and in literacy 25:35 would one... be a great outreach for the Kingdom in general 25:39 and be a great outreach for any church 25:41 into it's community... because the children are 25:43 in the community... it's just a matter of 25:45 identifying them and then providing them the resources 25:47 to improve their literacy... 25:48 That is tremendous... that is tremendous... 25:51 what would, in the last minute that we have 25:54 what would you like to say to parents that are 25:56 struggling with their children and they don't understand 26:00 what's going on... what would you say 26:01 to those parents? The advice that I would give 26:04 to parents that are struggling with their children 26:07 is that they... first of all... 26:09 just need to be involved and that they need to invest... 26:12 right... they need to invest time... 26:14 and any resources that they have 26:16 it's not expensive... there are a lot of programs 26:18 out there that are available for reading 26:20 that they can put on their cell phones 26:22 they can put on tablets or computers 26:24 and if they don't have, you know, 26:26 if they don't have those resources... 26:28 to reach out to Organizations like TestOurKids. com 26:30 to be able to provide their children 26:32 the instructions... so even if there is a parent 26:34 that has a learning disability or that struggles with 26:37 literacy themselves... there are Organizations 26:40 out there that they can reach to 26:41 to help their children achieve a very fundamental aspect 26:47 which would be literacy... 26:49 That is great... thank you so much, you know, 26:52 one of the things you said and it's so true... 26:55 our churches can use this to reach out to 26:58 the parents in the community, the children in the community, 27:01 and it can be used as an evangelistic tool 27:04 to bring people to the house of God... 27:07 to meet their needs first... their temporal needs 27:11 and then, of course, their spiritual needs... 27:13 so thank you so very much Roy... 27:15 for being on this Program 27:17 and for all that you're doing 27:18 for the cause of literacy, we really appreciate it. 27:21 Thank you... glad to be here and, 27:24 like I said, I hope that we can push for a change 27:27 and improve literacy in our children 27:29 and in our Communities... 27:30 Thank you so much for joining us... 27:34 we hope that these programs 27:37 give you the tools that you need... 27:39 to share with other people 27:41 you might not have children yourself... 27:43 but you might know some children that can really benefit 27:46 from this information, so thank you so much... 27:48 may God bless you... we want you to tune in 27:51 next time... join us next time... 27:53 tune in... you know why? 27:55 because it just wouldn't be the same 27:56 without you. |
Revised 2023-10-16