Meet Amber Oliver, Light House Supporter and Alum
Amber Oliver, Co-Founder of Reading Revolutionaries, reached out to The Light House recently with a generous and creative way to support our mission. Having been a resident in our emergency residential program just over 10 years ago, Amber was excited to support the families currently living at The Light House and to share her story with our community.
When Amber first came to The Light House in the fall of 2011, she was pregnant with her first child and needed a safe place to live while she planned for her future. The Light House was there to provide her with shelter, case management, and other wrap-around care. During this time, Amber worked hard to build a stable life for herself and her new baby. She completed the B.E.S.T. Culinary Employment Training Program, obtained her driver’s license, applied for housing and employment opportunities, and started exploring options for earning a college education. Amber was also provided with the many essentials new mothers and babies need to thrive. Thanks to her hard work, Amber and her son soon moved out of The Light House and into their own apartment.
Amber has accomplished great things over the past decade. After moving out of The Light House, she worked in the culinary industry while putting herself through college. She later graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English Education and began a career path centered around her passion and love of literature. She now works as a literacy advocate at a local elementary school, focusing her time on children who are reluctant readers, educating her pupils on reading comprehension and how to listen actively and fully engage in a story. Amber incorporates diversity into her sessions as well, coordinating a representation library based around the cultures of the children in each class.
Inspired by her work as a multicultural education advocate, Amber and her husband, Antoine, recently founded Reading Revolutionaries, a unique local business offering quarterly educational and engaging gift boxes for children, students, and educators. Reading Revolutionaries focuses on educating families, communities, and classrooms about the beautiful reality of diversity, history of cultural communities, and accepting differences.
In an effort to support the children at The Light House, Amber reached out to see if Reading Revolutionaries could partner with us by donating a special box of books for each child. So far, Reading Revolutionaries has donated 30 books and 8 annual subscriptions to the families living in our residential and transitional housing programs!
Light House Associate Director of Community Engagement, Sarah Ryan met with Amber and her daughter during their visit to drop off the first donation of Reading Revolutionaries book boxes.
“I will always view The Light House as an extension of family,” Amber told us when asked why she chose to support our programs. “I came to The Light House during a very hard time in my life, and it was a relief to know that I had somewhere safe to sleep as I planned for my future. I was young and had just turned 23, so I feel that The Light House was a saving grace. There was a deep level of investment that the staff and volunteers at The Light House had for me when I was a resident, and I am happy to give back to families who are currently going through difficult times.”
We are grateful that Amber is part of our Light House family and for the work she is doing in our community! To learn more about Reading Revolutionaries visit www.readingrevolutionaries.com.
