“Wow, 10 kids per class!” is what Felicia Mayes thought when she first heard of City Mission Academy. At the time, her youngest son, Rodnell was struggling with reading and enrolled in a neighborhood school with 35 kids in his kindergarten class.
She wasted no time enrolling her two youngest children into CMA for the smaller class sizes and to improve their education. That was two years ago. Today, not only has Rodnell’s reading improved, but the entire Mayes family has a story to tell of how City Mission has enriched their lives academically, economically and spiritually.
“My children love it here,” Felicia said. “Just walking into City Mission in the morning feels like I’m at home.”
Felicia walks into City Mission every morning to take Rodnell, now in second-grade, and Markayla, her first grader, to school and to go to work as an assistant in City Mission’s administrative office. She started working in the office as a receptionist last year and this year received her first promotion.
“City Mission’s had a good impact on me and my children,” said the mother of four. “I’m learning a lot through work and my relationships here with other employees are great.”
Felicia said she stopped attending church when she was younger, but through the influence City Mission Academy has made on her daughter, Markayla, now the entire family has started going to church again.
“I enjoy going to church and my children enjoy going,” she said “At City Mission they teach her about the bible, so she wants to learn more about it. I probably wouldn’t have gone back to church if I hadn’t started working here,” she said.
Her 14 year-old son, Brandon, also comes to City Mission every week for the mentoring program. “He loves his mentor,” Felicia said. “He can’t wait for Thursdays to come so he can see his mentor.”
At City Mission, every family has a story. Over the next several weeks, we will introduce you to our families and share how the work we are doing in Brightmoor is making a difference, one family at a time.
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