Literacy: Spanning the U.S.
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Faces of Community: Keith Merritt
Army
veteran volunteers with the Craven Literacy Council
New Bern Sun Journal: 11.06.2017 by Todd Wetherington
Keith
Merritt has a long history of volunteer work in southeastern North Carolina,
one that stretches back to a meeting with his future wife in 1999.
“We
were working in Kinston doing flood relief work after hurricanes had come
through,” he said. “I was living in Fayetteville and she was living on the
Outer Banks. We both had a strong calling; to me it was God saying ‘Come
here.’”
Merritt
said he gained an appreciation for the importance of volunteer work at a young
age.
“Early
on I saw my parents and grandparents helping others,” he remembered. “I never
really had a desire to make a lot of money but volunteering is something that
fulfills me. It really makes me feel good — not the volunteering but directly
helping others.”
After
serving 28 years in the Army, Merritt said he wasn’t sure what to do after
returning to civilian life. When he moved to New Bern in 2001, he found what
would turn out to be a second career in volunteer work.
“After
a career in the Army where I gave to serve the country, here I want to help
everyone become a more productive citizen,” he said. “As soon as we moved to
New Bern, we were invited into prison ministry, so we’ve done that for 16 years
at two different prisons every week, Greene Correctional in Maury and Pamlico
Correctional in Bayboro.”
Merritt
also became involved in the Craven Literacy
Council, where he has served as executive director and, most
recently, board chairman.
“There’s
a very significant hidden literacy problem,” he said. “Probably 40 percent of
the population of Craven County has literacy deficiencies. Illiteracy, both
with reading, with mathematics, with computers, to simple things such as
reading prescriptions. There’s a significant literacy problem in the county and
surrounding counties.” READ MORE >>
Fundraiser
for literacy program proves a big success
Daily Republic: 11.06.2017 by Susan Hiland
The
Solano County Library Foundation’s Authors
Luncheon is one of those events that packs a punch as a fundraiser to help with
programs in Solano County that keep people reading.
Frances
McCullogh, a retired educator, loves to read and she wants to share that love
with future generations. She agreed to head the committee this year to make the
event happen Sunday at The Clubhouse at Rancho Solano.
“Reading
makes such a difference in people lives,” McCullogh said.
The
organization for the past 17 years has pulled together some of the best writers
in the Bay Area for a fundraising luncheon to celebrate their work and help
bring much-needed funds to literacy
programs not supported by tax dollars.
The
funds raised go to Reach Out and Read, a pediatric literacy program that has
handed out 219,000 books to children in Solano County; Tutor.com, an online
homework program that helps adults and youngsters; the library’s Adult Literacy
and English as a Second Language program, which provides tutoring for adults to
learn to read and master the English language; and Solano Kids Read, which
brings free books to classrooms. READ MORE >>
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Families Thrive with Literacy
LCNV
Connection:
11.06.2017 by Roopal Mehta Saran, Executive Director LCNV
As
learners in Literacy Council of Northern Virginia’s
(LCNV) City of Alexandria Destination Workforce class reflect on their first
English literacy course experiences, one common theme is heard: literacy is a
survival skill.
Each
of the women in this class is a newly arrived refugee from Afghanistan, hoping
to support their family and become ready to enter the workforce. Most of these
students don’t write or read their native language, and none were literate in
English.
After
several weeks of intensive classes, these women have begun to navigate things
that native English speakers take for granted: public transit routes, school
forms for their children or instructions from a supervisor. While the benefit of
these is immediately apparent, there are other benefits that are less obvious.
Most of these students will return to a home with children, where they will
reinforce their child’s education through their own newfound English. Their
ability to understand English can help them get a job (or a better job), which
can lift their family above the poverty line. They can begin to engage more
with their English-speaking neighbors, strengthening the community. While an
English class may only last for a few months, the benefits last a lifetime.
November
marks Family Literacy Month, a celebration of the work of English literacy
programs in strengthening learning and literacy between children and parents.
Literacy is a vital part of a functioning society, and family literacy can
support children and bolster their academic achievements. According to the
National Bureau of Economic Research, “children whose parents have low literacy
levels have a 72 percent chance of being at the lowest reading levels
themselves.” READ MORE >>
Rogers
gets Loudonville’s GED program running again
Times Gazette: 11.06.2017 by Jim Brewer
A
little over two years ago, partly, he admitted, “to get me to do something to
relieve the boredom of retirement,” Larry Rogers answered an ad for a GED
instructor.
“I
had extensive experience as an educator, teaching for 25 years either on a
full- or part-time basis in the West Holmes School District, and the ad called
for a certified teacher,” he said.
“So
I answered the ad and, contingent on me recertifying myself as a teacher, was
hired to teach GED (Graduate Equivalency Degree or General Education
Development) classes through the Aspire,
formerly known as ABLE (Adult Basic Literacy Education) program operated
through the Ashland County-West Holmes Career Center.”
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“I
have found that I really like the GED teaching,” said Rogers, a life-long
Loudonville area resident.
“Basically,
it involves people who want help taking on what has been a difficult challenge,
completing or returning to school, and my role, as I see it, is to move them,
not by pushing but rather by gently encouraging them toward that challenge in a
positive direction.” READ MORE >>
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