"Madre, if we could only speak English," were the words that inspired the Adrian Dominican Sisters to start the Aquinas Literacy Center, according to an accounting shared at the center's Dine and Discuss event on Tuesday, March 13. Dozens of volunteers, neighbors and friends of the center enjoyed dinner and a presentation focusing on the contribution of the sisters to both the McKinley Park neighborhood and Aquinas.
Five sisters living in the Our Lady of Good Counsel convent started the center in the convent basement in 1996, said Volunteer Coordinator Sabrina Poulin in her presentation. This has grown into today's full-blown, full-time center at 35th and Wood streets that educates hundreds of students a year. Original Aquinas volunteers and founding sisters also shared their memories at the Dine and Discuss, which served as both outreach and a happy reunion for longtime volunteers.
The history of the Adrian Dominican Sisters in McKinley Park stretches back to 1911, said Poulin. It includes major milestones such as the 1960 founding of Our Lady of Good Counsel School in the midcentury modern building at 3540 S. Hermitage Ave. following the destruction by fire of Our Lady of the Angels School a couple years earlier.
The convent provided teachers for the school and also established a food pantry. Sisters staffing the pantry received feedback that people in the neighborhood needed help learning English. In September 1996, Sister Claudia Hinds opened the literacy center in the convent basement with two tables and five chairs. By August 2000, the center had trained 90 volunteer tutors and registered 300 students.
All the activity caused the center to outgrow its space, and it moved to the school building on Hermitage in 2007, where it continued to grow its base of students and volunteer tutors. A major source of support began in 2010, when Aquinas became an officially sponsored institution of the Dominican Rea Literacy Corporation, Poulin said.
When growth inspired the need to move again, a priority was placed on staying in the McKinley Park neighborhood, said Executive Director Alison Altmeyer. In July 2017, Aquinas moved to its current expansive home at 1751 W. 35th St., where it continues its mission, including monthly volunteer tutor training sessions.
The Dine and Discuss event was presented at Aquinas as part of the celebration of National Catholic Sisters Week.
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