Single Mom Improves Literacy for Better Job

Being a young single mother brings significant challenges. Knowing that the best way to improve her family’s situation was to get a good paying job, Denise Ellis reached out to Craven Literacy Council for a tutor to help improve her reading and writing skills. In December, 2008, Denise met her tutor, Mary Helen Boone, and they have been working together ever since!

That commitment is an outstanding accomplishment; few tutor/student pairs invest that many years together. The result is a wonderful bond between these two women. Mary Helen has served as cheerleader, friend, inspiration, and shoulder-to-lean-on and she feels such pride to see the growth that Denise has made. Denise considers Mary Helen to be an important member of her “family” and is very appreciative of the encouragement and support that Mary Helen provided. They both consider themselves honored to share their story.

Denise faced many challenges during those years. Family issues, unemployment, an auto accident that left her with recurring bouts of pain, and finally, loss of her home to Hurricane Irene. She had to move her children from one temporary location to another over the past few years. (Fortunately, with the help of Mary Helen and her husband, Denise was finally able to find a permanent home for her family this year.)

With all these challenges, it would have been so easy to stop studying. But not Denise. Discovering through her daughters that she had a passion for working with young children, she enrolled at Pamlico Community College to work toward a certificate in Early Childhood Education. As a work-study student at PCC, she is able to work with the Smart Start Program, a pre-school educational program, which made her even more certain that she wants to help educate children. She continues to study at PCC and has made significant progress toward reaching her goal. She has already completed two years of study at PCC and earned all B’s last semester! Now she and Mary Helen are working on the financial aid package to enable her to continue her studies.

We’ve all heard the saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” That certainly describes the Denise/Mary Helen team, and we couldn’t be prouder to share their story.