Clint Twedt-Ball, team member of the Change a Child’s Story team asked Bishop Trimble during 2016 Iowa Annual Conference, “A year ago when we talked, you said that our goal should be to get 100% of the churches on board with Change a Child’s Story. Do you still believe that we can reach that audacious goal of 100% participation?”
“Yes!” Bishop Trimble replied.
Twedt-Ball continued saying it should be a no-brainer for the churches of the Iowa Conference to reach 100% participation. If there is a program that every church should be able to engage in, this is it.
“Bishop, question two for you. Last year, we set an audacious goal of giving away 1 million books and 1 million hours of time to support struggling readers. Do you still believe we can get there?”
“Yes!” the Bishop said again.
The Change a Child’s Story initiative is so important in Iowa because of the following statistics:
• Approximately 1 in 4 Iowa children read below grade level—that’s 100,000 children
• Children reading below grade level in 3rd grade are 4 times more likely to drop out of high school
• Children from middle-income homes have on average 13 books per child in comparison to children in low-income homes who have 1 on average
“These kids need our help,” he continued. “They need our support. 1 million books and 1 million hours means each kid in the state of Iowa struggling with reading will get 10 books and 10 hours of help from Iowa United Methodists.”
The Change a Child’s Story team has resources in place to help churches be successful, visit
www.changeachildsstory.org.
For the initiative to be a success, churches will need to report their donations of books and hours and need to remember these three words:
pledge, report, and share.
Reporting sheets are available at the website (
click here) and were on every table during Annual Conference.
The Change a Child’s Story team has hired Patty Link as the new Coordinator to provide resources and to make the campaign a success.
Patty Link was a teacher in low-income school on the East coast. She is also a former Des Moines School Board member, worked for a statewide education advocacy group, is a long-time member of Grace United Methodist Church in Des Moines, and is passionate about putting her faith into action by supporting children.
In conclusion, Phil Carver played the Change a Child’s Story song which is to the tune of
I love to Tell the Story. The lyrics and music are available by
clicking here.
