Published: January 08, 2009 11:24 pm         

Literacy Council head nominated for Pillar of Plains

Adjectives flow fluently from Brianna Carolan when asked to describe Enid Liter-acy Council President Mona Loewen.

Progressive. Diverse. A natural.

“If we are sustainable, it’s because of her,” Carolan said of Loewen and the services she provides as both a tutor and board president.

“She’s such a natural. She makes people feel very comfortable. She never makes a big show of her accomplishments,” said Carolan, program coordinator at Enid Literacy Council.

Loe-wen is one of the four women nominated for this year’s Pillar of the Plains award, annually presented by the Enid News & Eagle. This year’s other finalists are Ann Bryant, Elaine Johns and Becky Cummings.

The Pillar of the Plains will be named during a reception Thursday.

The newspaper solicits nominations from readers for people who have been longtime volunteers and contributors to the community.

“We get anywhere from 12 to 20 nominations each year,” said Cindy Allen, managing editor. “We select four to five finalists a year, and from those finalists a Pillar of the Plains is selected by newspaper staff, business partners and former winners of the award.”

Loewen said she loves the opportunities she gets by volunteering for Enid Literacy Council. She said it’s both the tangible and intangible rewards that keep her coming back.

“I really love it,” Loewen said. “You get to be part of a different culture.”

She received the Okla-homa Literacy Coalition’s Gold Award for tutoring excellence this year. Carolan said Loewen has been an integral part of the Enid Literacy Council. At a time when literacy councils around the state are losing funding and having to shut their doors, she works to improve the organization and make sure it can serve the Enid community.

At times she spends as many as 15 hours a month teaching English to non native speakers. She has dedicated almost 900 hours to the Enid Literacy Council. Some of her students describe her as a best friend, Carolan said.

Enid Literacy Council serves a diverse population — from Hispanics, Asians and even Polish students. Loewen said knowing you have helped someone is the greatest reward.

“One student got her citizenship,” she said. “You just know that you are helping them achieve their goals.”

Mona’s husband, John, is a retired banker and the two are certified financial counselors, teaching Dave Ramsey’s Finan-cial Peace to church congregation members. They have taught classes at their church — Emmanuel Baptist — as well as two other local churches. The Loewens also run a cattle operation.

Loewen said she volunteers her time — which has included serving on numerous boards in the community — because she has time.

“My children are all grown and gone,” she said, adding that visiting her seven grandchildren and taking care of the cattle take a large portion of the couple’s time.

Loewen said the literacy council’s training makes it easy to help teach people to read. She said volunteers don’t have to know any language other than English.

“Our materials are so helpful,” Loewen said. “It doesn’t take a lot of training or knowledge.”

In fact, Loewen said, she has been able to brush up on her English and grammar skills while tutoring.

“We have so many idioms” in the English language, she said. “It’s never boring.”

In addition to her responsibilities at Enid Literacy Council and counseling families through Financial Peace, the Loewens also write a financial column for their church’s weekly newsletter. They also are working towards getting their church debt-free by its 50th anniversary in 2011.