“I grew up in a family where everyone is a reader. I mean, voracious readers. My mother is 90 years old, and she is reading two and three books at a time. I have something in my car so that if I get stopped at the railroad tracks, I can read it,” Pillow said.
Pillow moved to Pearland in 1980. Her love of reading led her to get involved in the community a few years later and help the illiterate. More than 30 years after she helped form the Adult Reading Center, Pillow retired in March.
“My hope is that it continues to grow and continues to be able to offer the services that we offer to the community and keep that community support going, which I have every confidence that it will,” Pillow said.
What started as a volunteer-based organization now boasts 16 paid employees and serves close to 600 students.
“I’m proud that we have had that steady growth to get us where we are today,” Pillow said.
The center’s growth is one of the biggest changes over the years, Pillow said.
“We couldn’t serve more than 50 people at a time,” Pillow said.
Originally, Pillow’s goal for every student was to either earn a degree or to find a job. However, some students wanted to learn English so that they could communicate with their child’s teachers.
“What I had to come to realize is that every student has their own idea of what success is and their own goals,” Pillow said.
According to Pillow, the Adult Reading Center’s goal is to help foster these objectives and help students achieve them in a realistic and achievable way.
“That’s the kind of thing we are trying to do—encouraging students to reach their full potential,” Pillow said. “Whatever your long-term goal is, we are here to help you with those short-term goals.”
Funding the mission
Pillow served on the board of the directors for the reading center from 1987 to 2001, when she then became the CEO for the center.
As with many nonprofits, financing the center is one of the biggest challenges the Adult Reading Center faces, Pillow said. One of her primary jobs during her leadership was writing the grants for the center.
“It’s always funding because we are a nonprofit. I’ve gotten so good at asking for money,” Pillow said.
In addition to grants, the organization also hosts fundraising events like its annual Red Hat Luncheon.
“We really try to think of our funding areas as very diverse and try to keep it that way,” she said.
As a result of her grant writing, Pillow was able to upgrade the computers in the Adult Reading Center.
“One of the things that I will tell [grant writers] is that if you can’t tell the story well enough for someone to fund you, then that’s on you,” Pillow said.
Next chapter
Before Pillow was involved with the Adult Reading Center, she was a legal assistant. Her boss encouraged her to leave the profession and follow her passion: adult literacy.
“The judge—who I was working for 13 years—said, ‘This is where your heart is. This is where you should be,’” she said.
While Pillow said she is looking forward to reading and relaxing more in retirement, as well as spending time with her two grandchildren, she is still planning on being involved in her community after she moves to the Hill Country to be close to her family.
“I will probably do a lot of reading and maybe do some grant writing. I’ll find things to do,” she said.
