Holiday Issue 2009
Inside
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J&S Oil hosted their second annual Community Fun Fair in Manchester on Saturday, September 26th. Literacy Volunteers of Greater Augusta was one of twelve area non-profits who joined the fun on this most perfect, sunny, warm September day, taking advantage of a great opportunity to do a little fundraising while creating community awareness for our adult literacy services.
Young and old alike enjoyed a myriad of activities including hay rides, games, crafts, food etc. Literacy Volunteers of Augusta offered framed photos taken in a clown cutout along with a hot dog sale, both were big hits.
Sincere thanks goes to J&S Oil for their support which is especially appreciated in this tough economy.
More pictures of the Community Fun Fair on Flickr
If you have visited the Literacy Volunteers of Greater Augusta (LVA) website recently you have discovered the latest new feature - the LV-Augusta blog. Built using a free WordPress.com account, the LV-Augusta blog will be used to feature current news, information and upcoming events. Presently, the blog contains some photos of recent events as well as timely news articles passed on from LV-Maine and ProLiteracy.
Blogs - short for "web logs" - have been around for about ten years and have become very popular due to a number of features that allow the "blogger" to post information and news quickly and efficiently. Many blogs contain video and audio files allowing individuals and organizations to have a multimedia presence on the web. Content can also be "syndicated" using something called an RSS feed. This allows the content from each blog entry to be “shared” with other bloggers.
The "keeper" of the LV-Augusta blog is our webmaster and recently-appointed Board member, John Brandt. John is presently a self-employed technology consultant, web designer and the owner of jebswebs.com. In addition to building many websites, he has built and maintained a number of blogs over the years. Brandt suggested adding the blog as a way to get timely information about our organization out to the public faster.
"One of the best features of blogs is the ability for people to make and leave comments on the various postings. While all comments have to be approved before they will appear on the LVAugusta blog, this feature does afford a way to create a dialog with our constituents," says Brandt.
We encourage everyone to visit and comment on the LV-Augusta website and the new blog. A link to the blog is here
On October 1st 2009, Literacy Volunteers of Greater Augusta (LVA) celebrated its 35th Annual Meeting of the membership with a reception held at the 12 Spruce Street office.
LVA is fortunate to have many loyal hardworking members making it difficult to choose outstanding folks to recognize each year.
Susan Makala and Jodi Williams who have been great representatives of LV Augusta through United Way presentations and their participation in LV Maine program “Faces of Literacy, Voices of Courage” are prime examples of our hardworking members. They were highlighted in the fall Open Book.
We also honored a long time volunteer, Dr. Jeanette Smith, for her continued support. Jenny took the tutor training nine years ago and worked with a student to improve his work status. Student assessment writing for the newsletter, helping with fundraisers and events and working on the board of directors as treasurer are among her wonderful contributions to our cause.
Sincere thanks go to these special people and to all of our supporters.
Gail Dyer, Coordinator
Each new tutor training class is special. This fall we were especially delighted to have many staff members from “The Club House,” join the five-part training series. The group will use their newly acquired training skills to assist members of their Augusta-based facility. They were joined by four other wonderful new tutors, including a former high school track coach among others.
“This was an enthusiastic, energized group of people!” explained Bob McIntire. He and Jen Small split the training duties this time around. “We had almost 100% attendance which is great for such a large group.”
The training saw the introduction of the new edition of Tutor 8, the text published by New Readers Press. Sidney Gates, a long time reading teacher and training participant, praised the publication noting that it was a great resource based on well founded reading research. Other new tutors included Mark Tibbetts, Josh McFetridge, Kimberley Merrifield, Ellen Rider, Bradford Brown, Lindsay Smith, Joy Ackerman and Anne Knowles.
The training sessions were held at the LVA office and concluded October 27. Several tutors from the class have already been matched. See more photos on the LV-A blog
Have you read every book by your favorite author? Are you tired of the same old books all the time? Do you know anyone else who has the same interests in reading as you? Are you into book trivia? The answers to all the questions can be found on a great web site. The answers you are looking for are at www.goodreads.com. This is a web site all about reading and favorite books. You can sign up for free and explore to your heart’s content!
I was introduced to this site by my sister. She is involved in a couple book groups and is an avid reader, plowing through books by the dozen. I, on the other hand, only read for leisure when I’m on vacation. If I read 12 books a year, that’s a lot. My reading mostly relates to my work. Even so, I found this website to be fun. I explored what others thought of the books I had read and also what others thought of the books I heard about, but hadn’t read yet. Sometimes it made me move that book to the head of the list, other times I took it off my list. There is a fun trivia section that can really keep my interest by the hour – well maybe not, but I have spent some time learning interesting tidbits and testing by knowledge!
You can find all kinds of quotes and information about authors. Do you like a certain genre, then explore some of the other authors that write in that area of interest. It seems there is unlimited information just waiting to be found.
I started my book list and included the fact that I am currently reading War and Peace. Unfortunately, they keep sending me emails reminding me that “it has been X days and you are still reading War and Peace”! I’m almost done, and ready to move on!
It’s a fun site, check it out some rainy, or snowy, day soon.
Jeanette Smith
Those who were fortunate enough to attend the “Faces of Literacy, Voices of Courage” (FAVO) kick off event on September 17th at the Abromson Center on the USM campus in Portland, really got a treat. Author and #1 New York Times bestseller, Vicki Myron, shared the story of “Dewey: The Library Cat Who Touched the World” with a auditorium filled to the brim with absorbed listeners. Included in the celebration was the photography exhibition of people whose lives have been changed by Literacy Volunteers.
This is LV Maine’s new state wide initiative to bring awareness of adult literacy needs throughout the state. Fourteen Maine affiliates provide one-to-one tutoring for adults that is free, private and confidential.
This inspirational display will be featured around the state during the rest of this year and through 2010. The State House in Augusta will host the exhibit in the Welcome Center, February 1 to 12, 2010. It will also be available for the public to view at another venue in Augusta, soon to be announced. You can find more information at www.lvmaine.org.
Literacy Volunteers of Greater Augusta wishes all of you, Students, Tutors, Board and Training Members and our wonderful Funders a most Joyous Holiday Season. Thank you, to each one of you, for your contributions toward increasing literacy skills in our little corner of the world.
"In the U.S., one out of seven adults has below-basic literacy skills," said David C. Harvey, president and CEO of ProLiteracy. "The problem is being further exacerbated as less-educated adults lose their jobs and are further subjected to poverty."
Won't you please help us to break this cycle?
