Board Member Changes
A Warm Welcome and a Fond Farwell

There have been some important “comings and goings” on the LV-A Board of Directors.

Jenny Small, a native of Manchester, has joined our board. A committed volunteer in our community (United Way and Cony High School Boosters), Jenny is a long-time substitute teacher. She is already working on becoming a tutor trainer. Jenny is married to Scott Small and is the mother of three grown children.

Rhonda Parker, long time tutor and board member, has notified LV-A she regrets that due to time constraints and growing responsibilities in her position, she found it necessary to resign from the Board of Directors.

Rhonda took the Basic Reading Workshop in 1997 and went on to work with several students. She has been a constant supporter of the affiliate, holding several positions on the board while assisting with tutor training, public relations, fund raising, serving on the LV Maine board for a term or whatever was needed.

One board member said “Rhonda is LV-A to me.” We in the organization all feel that way. Rhonda and Gail Dyer attended the last Literacy Volunteers of America Conference held in Albuquerque, NM in 2001. “I’ll miss her,” Gail shared.

The LV-A Board of Directors and members will miss her steadfast support, but Rhonda assures us she will gladly help with future functions. We wish her all the best in all her new ventures.

“Spooktacular” Read-a-Thon Frightfully Great Success

It was an evening of costumes, treats, fundraising and most importantly scary stories on October 30, 2004, when LVA held its first read-a-thon. For our first read-a-thon we chose Halloween weekend as the setting and joined up with the Gaslight Theater of Hallowell. This joint fundraiser, the Spooktacular Read-a-Thon, so penned by creative Gaslight President Meg Matheson, was packed all evening with listeners clutching their drinks in fear as readers entertained everyone with their spooky selections. The setting was the Higher Grounds café and bar on Water Street in Hallowell. Readers, often dressed in costume, turned in their pledges and took to the stage to read a self-selected poem, short story or pages from a novel. There were many highlights and I’ve included the list of readers and selections on page 2. The night was dotted with trivia games and raffles, with a special thank-you for donated items to Maple Hill B&B, Tom Dix, Fenix, Earthly Delights and Cushnoc Trader.

The Literacy Volunteers would like to thank all the readers and other volunteers. LV-A especially thanks Kellie and Ed Miller of the Higher Grounds who donated their pub to us for the night as well as all the time they put into decorating and serving.

Readers Review

Book Review: The Chaplain - written by Peter Mars

Review by Sandra Barringer

For those of you who attended the LVA ’04 Dessert Party, this review is just a small extension of our guest author’s well-received reading at that event from The Chaplain.

Peter Mars, author of several books to his credit, with 32 years in law enforcement behind him has concurrently had a career as an ordained minister. It was at a conference for the Irish Children’s Foundation that he first met Father Michael Hennessey. They became friends through the years. As Father Hennessey became aware of Rev. Mars’s career as an author he asked the writer if he would record his personal story as he felt that it needed to be written. A series of meetings and phone calls ensued as the story unfolded and Mr. Mars began to record the words that Father Hennessey gave him.

As those of you in attendance at the Peter Mars’ reading know, The Chaplain is the story of a committed Catholic priest and the dilemma that falling in love with one of his parishioners might bring upon him as a priest in the Catholic Church.

However, there is much more revealed in the story of Father Hennessey. There is a well-told true story of domestic violence that I am sure men and women working in law enforcement or social services know too well. This story was probably a major factor in Father Hennessey’s desire to have his experiences recorded. In addition there is the story of inner conflict that a dedicated, celibate Catholic priest would face when he finds himself in love. There is the sincere love story that Father Hennessey reveals. And finally, as we learn of Father Hennessey’s travels to Israel, we become so much more aware of the heart wrenching current events in this war-torn part of the world.

Peter Mars is currently working on a mystery that takes place during and after World War II. Nazi officers have stolen gold and paintings from two museums in Berlin. When the Red Army overruns the city as Germany falls, part of these treasures are found, and the story continues. Maybe Peter Mars can be persuaded to visit us again and entertain us with an excerpt from this current work.

Salute to Spooktacular Readers

Many Thanks to a Special Friend

Literacy Volunteers of Greater Augusta is deeply grateful for a recent donation to the organization by long time supporter and friend Thelma Swain. Her generous gift to LV-A will enable us to provide even more support to students and tutors in their work.

Literacy Volunteers of Greater Augusta Celebrates at 31st Annual Meeting

LVA members met last October for their annual meeting and lasagna dinner at the Prince of Peace Church in Augusta. Members enjoyed many different varieties of lasagna, along with bread, salad and dessert. It’s a meeting that members look forward to every year!

At the meeting, we voted on a new slate of officers for 2004-2005. Bob McIntire will be President; Lori Gray will be Vice-President; Jenny Small will be Secretary; and, Anna Bragdon will be Treasurer. Volunteer awards were also presented. Celeste Gaylord and her student received Outstanding Tutor and Outstanding Student Awards respectively. Celeste has worked with her student for a year and a half and have made great progress together. LVA nominated Celeste and her student as Tutor-Student pair to be honored at the LV Maine Annual Meeting last May. Besides tutoring, Celeste has supported the Augusta affiliate in other ways. The United Way Review panel was very impressed by her narrative on what being a tutor meant to her and the progress her student had made. Lori Gray received the Outstanding Volunteer award. Lori joined the LVA Board early in 2001 and her sparkling personality and community commitment have been a great boost! Lori has led us through many fundraising events including citrus sales, dessert parties and more. Her fresh ideas have brought new light to the group and we thank Lori for her devotion to literacy issues in our surrounding area. We know that we aren’t the only group that benefits from Lori’s volunteerism and we appreciate that she gives us so much of her precious free time.

Tutor Hall of Fame Welcomes Four

The fall 2004 Tutor Training class saw four new tutors join the elite corps of active reading supporters. The sessions were held at the LV-A office. The tutors-to-be brought back grounds as varied as our students.

Karen Nielsen, for example, call Hollywood Boulevard home, in Whitefield, that is! A native of the Philippines, Karen has a background in business management. She looks forward to international travel and hopes to use her LV-A training while in route.

Holly Wyman is a registered nurse and former case manager. She feels that LV-A is a worthwhile investment of her time.

Jennifer Small, was convinced of the importance of the LV-A mission even before taking the tutor training. She learned of the organization through a chance meeting with a Winthrop schoolmate, Lori Gray, the Vice President of our Board. Lori painted such a delightful picture of the organization that Jenny joined the Board. She feels it is important to learn all she can about LV-A and the fall tutor training fit right into her schedule!

Stephanie Thomas, a speech therapist, enjoyed the LV-A training. She could see the connections between her professional practice and the methods that LV-A uses in helping readers improve their skills. On the final evaluation, when asked what topic she would like to know more about she replied, “Feng Shui.” Being a “Learner-Centered” bunch, the Tutor Training Team is working to incorporate that into the curriculum. Thanks for the tip, Stephanie!

If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about Literacy Volunteers, the Spring Tutor Training session begins with an LV-A Open House March 1, 2005 at the LV-A office. Check the web site or call 626-3440.

Thanks again and congratulations to the new tutors!

Winter 2005 Tutor Reunion & Support - Pizza and the WEB

Five LV-A tutors and a student combined terrific pizza with a tour of some great literacy websites. The HallDale computer lab was the perfect setting to explore the wide variety of website available to provide tutors and students instruction at every level.

The advent of computers, accessible programs and the most recent product of the digital spinneret, the World Wide Web, provide a dizzying array of opportunities for making meaningful learning connections.

Three of the sites of particular focus were Filamentailty, Surfing for Substance and the Adult Literacy and Technology Network.
Filamentailty is a cool first-time site for folks interested in learning more about the web. The site is part of the Knowledge Network Explorer (KNE), a effort first started in 1992 in response to needs of California teachers. KNE also connects to Blue Web’n an on-line library of outstanding internet sites categorized by subject, grade level and format. Filamentailty is a “fill-in-the-blank” web creation tool that allows the user to develop a personal web site on a subject of interest. Tutors at the Support meeting have been asked to create a site as part of their home work.

Surfing for Substance is a service of the literacy assistance center in New York City. The site, created by Emily Hackerwith assistance from Mary Ann Capehart, contains a series of lessons that take the adult learner through the process of learning about the web and then creating lesson plans.

A third site, Adult Literacy & Technology Network (NIFL) OTAN is part of the National Institute for Literacy sponsored resources. The sire is maintained by the Sacramento School Department.

Thanks to MSAD 16 and the folks at Hall-Dale High School for allowing Literacy Volunteers to use the computer lab for this workshop. Visit any for the site for more information or write info@lva-augusta.org.

The Open Book is published by Literacy Volunteers of Greater Augusta, Inc. 295 Water St., Suite 103, Augusta, ME 04330