Anne Stokley receives governor's service award

Anne Stokley, volunteer at the Cape Fear Literacy Council (CFLC), recently received one of the state’s highest honors for her work – the Governor's Medallion Award for Volunteer Service. This award is presented annually to just twenty to twenty-five volunteers across North Carolina, with only one nomination permitted per county.

“I was so pleased and absolutely surprised to receive this award,” said Stokley. “It was so validating.”

Key takeaways

• The details: Governor's Medallion recipient Anne Stokley has spent nearly a decade tutoring, leading initiatives and expanding literacy opportunities at Cape Fear Literacy Council.
• Why it matters: Her work has improved literacy, sustained programs through the pandemic and raised thousands of dollars to support students' success.
• The more you know: Stokley helped launch CFLC's online bookstore, which has generated more than $30,000 to fund local literacy programs.

Stokley’s decision to volunteer at CFLC after retirement stemmed from her love of reading. She simply wanted to share her passion with others. That passion led to almost a decade of service to CFLC, during which she taught individuals and classes, assisted with CLFC’s theater productions, and undertook leadership and development responsibilities. 

Her first job at CFLC was tutoring an older gentleman who wanted to be able to read to his grandchildren. (Stokley continues to tutor him, and he now reads at a ninth grade level.)

Though Stokley adored tutoring, it wasn’t enough. She wanted to get involved with the organization at a higher level and soon joined CFLC’s board of directors. 

“Serving on the board would be a deeper engagement with CFLC, and that is what I was looking for,” she said.

Stokley threw herself into her new role. Her primary objective was to help the organization expand and better plan for the future. She, with another board member, built the pillars CFLC needed to set and achieve organizational goals. 

“We gave CFLC a blueprint they still use today with updates,” Stokley said. “We provided the foundation for them to weather the road.”

Stokley also took on a pivotal role in ensuring CFLC continued to function during the pandemic. She called on her knowledge of viruses and therapies, which she gained in her work in the pharmaceutical industry, to devise protocols that kept everyone safe. Consequently, CFLC staggered staff hours, conducted tutoring sessions at local parks where people could stay seven feet apart, and scaled up CFLC’s online sessions.

“We had to be creative to keep students,” Stokley said. “We didn’t want to jeopardize students and were quite cautious. We kept our work in line with public health advice.”

In addition, Stokley was the force behind CFLC’s online bookstore. After CFLC was gifted the bookshop from another nonprofit in 2019, Stokley put together a volunteer team to run it. The bookstore, which is now one of CFLC’s major fundraisers, has generated more than $30,000  to support literacy programs. 

Stokley stepped down from CFLC’s board of directors when she hit its limit for service on the board. However, her work for CFLC continued. She was, and still is, a literacy tutor, and she may tutor ESL students and teach citizenship classes in the future. She may even go back on the board of directors, she said. Meanwhile, she pitches in wherever she is needed. 

Stokley said the rewards she has reaped at CFLC are incalculable. She has met new friends, spends time with good people, and feels appreciated. 

But Stokley says her greatest reward is helping others.

“I feel like I am giving back to my community, and that’s important to me,” she said. “And I am really improving students’ lives.”