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Some school-age children may resent reading during the summer, but at least 300 kids in St. Joseph, Missouri, can't get enough of it.

Earnestine Blakley, Missouri's 1991 Teacher of the Year, has made sure children don't turn off their brains during the summer by starting a literacy program called Partner Reading. She and as many as 99 volunteers, including her husband Charles and sons Charles, Jr., and Andrew help children in local apartment complexes develop their reading skills and learn more about God.

Each child and a volunteer partner read different Bible-based books for about 30 minutes, twice a week, for five to six weeks. More than 500 copies ofBook of Hope, a short book about the life of Jesus, have been distributed through the literacy program and other summer outreaches.

Blakley, 46, left a 14-year career in public school teaching to start H.O.P.E. (Helping Other People Excel) Outreach Ministries in 1994. In addition to Partner Reading, she has organized Bible studies, through H.O.P.E., in nursing homes, senior citizens' residences, and a home for pregnant teens.

Volunteers also read to adults at La Fave Home for the Blind during the summer. Since the ministry began, many children and adults have embraced Christ, Blakley says.

The former third-grade teacher is now excited about a new aspect of her ministry. A class of seventh through tenth-grade public school children with behavior problems are visiting a convalescent center twice a month to read Bible-based stories. "It's been a great thing for them," she says. "Just to get a public school involved is overwhelming."

She has no regrets about all her efforts. "It's reciprocal," she says. "Any time you're helping people, you're blessed."

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