Earl Whittaker says he and Nancy Alexander weren’t testing God and certainly didn’t doubt him, but they knew a lot of disparate things needed to happen to accomplish what they had in mind.
Not only did things fall into place for the tutoring program the two members started in February at Tyner United Methodist Church, they’ve also seen progress with the group of 16 children who enrolled.
“It was pretty daunting,” Whittaker says. “We knew if it was going to happen, God would have to be in this.”
Plumbing the idea from a suggestion in 2000 by a former pastor’s wife, and basing it on a similar program at Bethlehem Center, the Tyner After School Kids (TASK) program involves reading and math tutoring of identified at-risk children — whose parents welcome the help — in grades kindergarten through third grade at nearby Bess T. Shepherd Elementary School.
The church agreed to provide rooms for the program, but there was no money in the budget for it, Whittaker says. He and Alexander had to recruit donations and volunteers.