Our Story
What is Fill My Cup! ?
Founded by Sheila Laury, Fill My Cup! is an organization located in Charlotte. We provide one-on-one and small group tutoring (with the help of trained volunteers), to adults and families. Volunteers are trained to provide help with reading, writing, and math skills on levels beginning with the non-reader to the pre-High School Equivalency (HSE) a with a valuable support system for its students and volunteers. Tutoring lessons are confidential and are scheduled at a time and approved places convenient to both student and tutor. Our organization is governed by a volunteer board of directors who directs activities to raise funds, provides awareness about low-literacy and its effects, and oversees all student and tutor programs.
Who do we Serve?
We serve adults who are residents of Mecklenburg County, age 16 and over, that do not have their high school diploma or are not functionally literate. Those who want to learn to read, improve their reading and obtain needed pre-HSE skills.
How do we Serve?
Tutorial services are provided by community volunteers. Our volunteer tutors are trained in the use of the research-based adult literacy instructional strategies and curricula used by our organization to include pre-HSE skills. Using available reinforcement print materials, small group and one-to-one tutorials allow students to establish their own pace in learning needed adult basic education skills, to include reading, spelling, writing, math and pre-HSE skills.
Who Helps?
The general public, churches, civic organizations, corporate donors and private individuals partner and support Fill My Cup! Resources are used to purchase materials for the reading programs and support the other needs of providing our adult literacy services to the community. Student referrals are received from churches, job programs, public libraries, and other local community-based agencies.
Affiliations
Our Fill My Cup! organization holds membership with the national literacy and adult basic education organization, ProLiteracy of America. Also, many other local community service agency collaborations also help strengthen the support services provided to our students.
Our History
In 1993, the beginning of the vision for Fill My Cup! was given by God to Sheila Laury. Since then, the vision became clearer in that the mission of Fill My Cup! is to help people learn to read - to gain access to God's promises in the Bible and reaching their God-given potential. In 2002, prayer, plans, and God's power started to manifest Fill My Cup!, our board of directors, volunteer staff, and our precious students.
Fill My Cup! has been very blessed to obtain very early support and non-profit mentoring from numerous local and neighboring community organizations as well as support from the North Carolina Community College System, United Way, local community partners such as The Grier Heights Community Center; churches, and individuals. The North Carolina Community College System office in Raleigh and the North Carolina Literacy Association (NCLA) provided much needed guidance and on-going support to our young literacy effort in Charlotte.
Several collaborative opportunities have presented themselves locally and nationally that continue to catapult Fill My Cup! to the next plateau in our community's overall literacy effort. We know and feel assured that as we keep Christian principles as our guide, according to God's promise, "our light will rise in obscurity".
To God Be The Glory
Our Founder
Executive Director, Sheila Laury is very passionate about people helping other people. This calling to serve others propelled her to seize the opportunity to participate in, and graduate from the United Way of Central Carolinas Leadership Institute, Leading the Way, class of 1999. This community enlightening and life-changing experience ignited a fire within her heart to serve her community. Fortunately, the preparation that would be needed to help others began early in her life while being reared by loving parents.
She obtained the Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration and Banking and Finance from Benedict College. Beyond college came a solid and diverse corporate, government, and nonprofit organizational background that created an extensive career portfolio. Her professional proficiency span many areas of expertise including accounting, financial analysis and nonprofit organizational start-up and management.
The wealth of business experience that Ms. Laury acquired has proved to be essential in the establishment of the growing community-based grass-roots adult literacy organization, Fill My Cup!. The adult literacy organization was established in 2002. The mission of the organization is to provide tutoring to those adult residents of our communities, that need to learn to read, improve their reading, or obtain pre- High School Equivalency skills.