Project Transformation:
Changing the Lives of Children Through a Reading Camp
➡️ This article is one of the FREE preview articles included with our free membership option, we hope you enjoy this free content!
➡️ Do you love reading stories from Ponca City Monthly? Don’t miss a single article, sign up for our email newsletter and get them delivered directly to your inbox. You can subscribe here.
“I am excited to work with the children on literacy, STEM, art and other activities this summer. I see PT as a chance to give back to the youth and foster positive change and growth.”
~ Nena Willis, Team Coordinator for Ponca City Site
Project Transformation (PT) is an eight-week nonprofit literacy program for elementary-age students that runs Monday through Thursday through June and most of July. Ponca City’s First United Methodist Church is one of the six locations chosen in Oklahoma to be a host site for 2025.
The first model of this nature was held in Dallas in 1998 with Oklahoma launching the program in 2002. According to the projecttransformation.org website, “The program model is designed to address three unique challenges with one program: 1) how to meet the academic, physical, social-emotional and spiritual needs of children; 2) how to provide meaningful ways for college-age young adults to explore ministry opportunities and develop as young leaders for the church and the world; and 3) how to support churches in connecting with their neighbors.”
Besides the local First United Methodist Church, which hosts 50 local students, additional site locations for this summer are El Reno at Wesley UMC; Muskogee at St. Paul UMC; Oklahoma City at Chapel Hill UMC; Shawnee at St. Paul’s UMC; and Tulsa at Southern Hills UMC. It is an outreach mission for their communities, and it generally involves the college-age workers who do much of the planning of lessons and activities and oversee many of them, as well as numerous volunteers, and a local coordinator hired by the host church. Emily Tamez, an educator with the public school system, is the program coordinator, and at FUMC, there are almost a hundred volunteers, some who may work only a day or two and others who may come every week, or even multiple days each week. The reading/listening volunteers who are needed for a two-hour morning timeframe each day added up to 527 volunteer slots (since 17 are needed for the three shift rotations of the students) just for that piece of the program. Then, there are volunteers for all the other daily activities, check-in, breakfast and lunch and more. It is truly a passion project.
Leaders in the local church heard about the program at the United Methodist Annual Conference last year. Becky Hightower heard Marla Lobo, Director of Oklahoma’s Project Transformation (PTOK), discuss the program and invited her to come talk to church members in Ponca City. Lobo is a United Methodist pastor, who grew up in Ponca City in the First Presbyterian Church. Members from FUMC and First Presbyterian Church, their partner church, were all in favor of hosting in Ponca City. After much initial preparation, the program almost did not happen after AmeriCorps was eliminated as a federal program. This was the nonprofit agency that funded the college-age workers for Project Transformation. However, the local team knew they needed to find the resources to keep the college leaders and serve the students in Ponca City, and PTOK felt the same and was able to fund the interns when OKUMC Conference Board of Trustees voted to give PTOK enough money to honor summer commitments. This gift was made possible through the previous giving of Oklahoma United Methodists. Local churches would still be responsible for securing the remainder of the funding, as they had agreed to do. For FUMCPC, it was a fairly easy decision. The program fits the church’s mission of “Creating a Cultural Renewal,” so it was important to their mission outreach.
It is truly a community project, though, with funding, needed items and volunteers coming from a variety of places within the city. The funding of many aspects of the program has always been on the hosting church, with the previous exception of AmeriCorps funding the stipend and scholarship for the college students. A few of the funding avenues have been Oklahoma United Methodist Conference’s donation for books, a Mannering Foundation grant through United Way, a Dollar General grant, monies from FUMC, an FPC donation from a bequest from the Dick and Joanne Jones estate, the Ponca City Council of Garden Club and more. The lead team also secured food and funding for breakfast, lunch and snacks in various ways, including June food service at PCPS, the Summer Feeding Program at the Oklahoma Food Bank, Ponca City Hospital Foundation, Sparks Family Foundation, Danny’s BBQ Head Quarters, Rusty Barrell and more. Sheila Foxworthy and Linda Sparks are setting up church members to host the college students for dinner a couple of times a week while they are here. According to lead volunteer Becky Hightower, many of the supplies have been purchased or procured by people from Albright, St. Paul’s and First United Methodist and First Presbyterian churches, along with businesses like The Buckle, Merrick’s, Dixie Dog, KFC and more donating items or gift cards. With all the volunteers needed for this, many organizations have volunteered groups to help along with the churches mentioned above. There are also groups of volunteers from First Baptist Church, the Noon Lions Club, Integris Health and more. It truly has taken a host of volunteers and supporters.
One of the major volunteers, supporters and leaders of Project Transformation is Pastor Leon Veazey, who says of its mission of community flourishing through meaningful relationships, education and resources, “Some of us were familiar with Project Transformation enough to know that it is a relevant program to our vision. In a state that is ranked 49th in the nation in elementary reading levels, we believe the church needs to be part of the solution.” Veazey explains that this is a tried-and-true program to help meet the needs of elementary students with well-trained college students, who go through a designed training at the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits prior to coming to the hosting site. “We get to build relationships with these kids, their families, a host of volunteers and members from other churches and our community who are helping plan and operate the two-month summer camp,” he says. “Kids not only improve their reading levels, which 97% of participants have historically, but will engage in activities in STEM, arts and crafts, music and recreation.” They will also go on field trips, such as to Standing Bear Museum & Education Center and “I Can Fly” with a pilot who teaches at the local Flight Academy.
Pastor Veasey is committed to the program. As a matter of fact, during the planning time leading up to the summer, one of the needs was housing for the college-age workers since they should be housed together for their work. Pastor Veazey volunteered to turn his house over to them for the summer. It has four bedrooms, and the group can easily live there as they might if they traveled on vacation and rented a nice BNB. The students moved in a few days before the beginning of the camp, and Pastor Veazey moved out. Another opportunity for support for the program came from this need. Church members Travis and Teri Harris loaned him their travel trailer for the two months, and local businessman and friend Jay Wagner, owner of Rivershire RV Resort & Camping, provided a discounted rate as an in-kind donation. It all comes together with the help of many.
It is easy to see how the program looks at the three C’s in pulling together this summer project: College students, Children and Churches, with the stated purpose of “Our mission is to transform communities by engaging children, college-age young adults and churches in purposeful relationships.” Like most outreaches of a church, people are at the heart. For the college students, there is an investment in the “lives of children while living in intentional community, exploring their calling and developing as servant leaders.”
The college students will additionally perform community service on about half of the Fridays they are in town. This summer of service may help them as they consider areas they would like to serve in the future. The children improve literacy, social-emotional and spiritual development through participating in the program for the summer. This is especially critical since reading proficiency is a key predictor of a child’s success. Since research indicates that even the best students lose part of their reading proficiency if they don’t read regularly over the summer, it is important to note that past PT sessions have shown 97% of children maintained or improved their reading levels over the summer.
Nena Willis, Ponca City’s PT Team Coordinator, says, “I enjoy the placement with FUMC and genuinely feel appreciated by the community here. I admire how the congregation has several volunteers willing to work with the children alongside our program. I also greatly appreciate the community’s support in making my team’s stay comfortable.” For churches hosting the program, there is connecting to more of their community and building relationships with their neighbors while improving the lives of area children. What could be better than the beautiful chaos of children all day in the church building? The new devotion to cultural renewal may well be simply caring for your neighbors.
➡️ Opt in or out of different newsletters on your “My Account” page.
➡️ Learn more about Ponca City Monthly+
Ponca City Monthly is a locally owned media company that delivers hyperlocal news through in print and online.
Like what we are doing? Feel free to forward this along and tell a friend.
Sponsorship information/customer service: email editor@poncacitymonthly.com