OANO Recognition

​Sr. Ruth Ann

On May 3rd, 2016, the Ohio Association of Nonprofit Organizations (OANO) hosted their annual Nonprofit Conference in Columbus, Ohio. Every year three organizations and three volunteers are honored by OANO for outstanding service in their communities. This year the Brunner Literacy Center is thrilled to announce that our very own Sr. Ruth Ann Meyer was honored at OANO's awards ceremony for her magnificent contributions to bringing greater literacy to Dayton, Ohio.

To say that Sr. Ruth Ann's commitment to education is strong would be a dramatic understatement. After receiving her Master's degree in Mathematics, she taught high school math for a number of years, and eventually decided to pursue her Doctorate in order to teach collegiately. Before coming to the BLC, Sr. Ruth Ann researched and taught mathematics at Western Michigan University for over 35 years, including serving as Department Chair. While at WMU, Sr. Ruth Ann was the project director and principal investigator for more than $20 million in grants that were awarded to the University through her efforts by the time she retired from her position.

Sr. Ruth Ann has been with the BLC from its very beginning in 2011 and has served since then as the primary grant writer for our organization. She has worked tirelessly to increase the reach of the BLC by bringing in necessary funding from a wide variety of venues ranging from local charitable groups to national foundations.

Through Sr. Ruth Ann's efforts last year, the Brunner Literacy Center raised in excess of $100,000 to provide programs, materials, resources, and even bus tokens for our clients to make education as accessible as possible to as many people as possible.

Sr. Ruth Ann continues to tutor clients in addition to gaining funding for the organization. She teaches, on average, five GED students a week in individual sessions to improve their higher-level math skills. One calculation suggests that over the course of her service to the BLC, Sr. Ruth Ann has given over 6,300 hours of service to furthering our mission.

The Brunner Literacy Center wouldn't be where it is today without the efforts of Sr. Ruth Ann Meyer! We thank her for her work, and we hope she continues to be a part of our mission for a long time to come.