MATTHEW BURNETTE, Staff Writer

The Southern Association for Reading Advancement, or SARA, is holding a community roundtable to gauge the needs of the Manchester and Winchester area.

Hosted by Let’s Make a Note in Winchester, the event will be held at 5 p.m. on March 29 with free baked goods being provided and possibly some other food options available for those in attendance.

Board Secretary Hannah Davis, an English Professor at Motlow and published author, says the educational non-profit organization is looking for feedback on how they can help communities in the area while also offering awareness of resources available.

“We are trying to make students and parents and community members aware of the academic resources that they do have available and we are trying to provide a space for the community members to voice their concerns and voice their questions, suggestions, or thoughts on what kind of resources they would like in the area and how we at SARA can make that happen with their community input,” she explained.

SARA takes a three-tier approach to providing educational resources and a stronger foundation for early learners.

“We are emphasizing literacy skills for young learners, and we do that through our new early learning centers that are preschools,” said Davis. “Then our second tier is where we will be offering resources for home schooled students in the area, so that can be anywhere from providing IEP (Individualized Education Program) support and advocacy resources.”

Davis says that SARA aims to provide community and more enrichment resources for homeschoolers, as well. The third tier of their program, which she says will probably come out after the first two, will focus on offering tutoring resources to afterschool programs.

Though based out of Winchester, the organization made its way up to Manchester due to the response they’ve received from residents.

“We found that there was such a dire need in our immediate area, but we have had to kind of creep up into the Manchester area just because there has been a real welcoming environment up there through the community and they’ve sort of thrown their doors open for us to get the ball rolling up there,” explained Davis. “That’s sort of our starting place.”

Technically still a new organization with their 501(c)(3) status pending, the Board members at SARA have been working on the behind-the-scenes work for over a year.

They’ve already been getting some feedback from the community and have been scouting locations for their first preschool for the past couple of months.

“We are pretty new, but the community is really calling for help so we’re so happy to answer that call and sort of be a driving force along with their help,” said Davis.

SARA’s Board consists of Davis’s husband Garrett, the Board Chair, Interim Vice Chair and Program Director Kerry Lynn, IT Director Shane Charles and Treasurer Rachel Charles.

“We’ve found that we all sort of have been contributing our own kind of individual experiences and they’ve really meshed quite well,” said Davis.

She says that the organization has taken off quicker than anyone involved anticipated which the group finds “encouraging.”

“It means that our inclination was correct that this is something that the community really wants and needs,” explained Davis. “That’s really helped us just take off at an exponentially fast rate because community members are so eager to help… us with anything that we need and to be involved at really any level.”