| Published as a Public Service by REM, Convenor of Collaborative Community Enterprises | Fall 2007 |
Excel in Education
| Published as a Public Service by REM, Convenor of Collaborative Community Enterprises | Fall 2007 |
Excel in Education
By Carla Gade
 This new logo for Literacy Volunteers - Waterville shows a tutor teaching an adult learner to read. |
Home at last: 107 Kennedy Memorial Drive, Waterville. The small gray house that sits to the left of the United Way building is now shelter to an office and conference room for Literacy Volunteers of Waterville. It is base camp for a great cause.
This is the place where everything gets done. But it wasn't always that way. Although Literacy Volunteers has been active in the community for over 30 years and has accomplished much, it has never had a centralized office. Thanks to its generous neighbor, the United Way of Mid-Maine, who donated the space, it does now.
Enter: Administrative Assistant Carla Gade — office manager, webmaster, graphic designer, and freelance writer by trade — administrator and volunteer by obsession. It's a great job with a wonderful organization. The office is pleasant. It is impeccably clean and organized. So far she's on a roll. Literally. One minor flaw in the older building is a very subtle slope in the floor. Her office chair rolls downhill backwards, leaving her trying to keep both feet on the ground. That's just where they need to be. It's up to her to maintain and provide the much needed administrative support for the Literacy Volunteers Board of Directors.
"Having a base camp really will help increase productivity," says their new assistant. "It gives the board members and staff a central location to maintain organization and get things done. It also provides a physical location with which people can identify Literacy Volunteers. It has been a very busy fall here creating promotional materials, updating records, planning for workshops, doing research, and much more."
Enter: Literacy Volunteers Board Member and Co-chair Judy Larson. Librarian at Winslow Public Library by day, volunteer board member both day and night, she is a champion for the cause of literacy. After a long day at her paid vocation, she and other veteran board members Martha Taylor-Browne (Co-chair), Carol Durkee, Linda Higgins, Linda Kingdon, and Jane Pronovost arrive in their new facilities with smiling faces. Along with new board members Susan Liebowitz and Kathleen Glenn-Lewin, they rise admirably to the task of promoting and coordinating a most necessary community service.
This dedicated board helps facilitate the mission of the non-profit. Tutor Coordinator Linda Higgins explains, "The goals of Literacy Volunteers are to help adults who have low reading levels improve their skills. With these improved skills it empowers them and their families by building their confidence, esteem and employment opportunities."
Additional board members are being sought. The current board encourages anyone interested in literacy to consider getting involved. Enter: Tutors. That's you or me. Have you ever considered it? You are reading this article and barely giving it a second thought. This is not possible for everyone. Literacy has nothing to do with intelligence, but much to do with opportunity. Literacy Volunteers of Waterville has adults waiting to learn to read or improve their literacy skills. Many are simply in need of assistance with filling out employment applications, understanding food and health labels, or studying for their driver's license. One out of seven people in our community can benefit by improving their level of reading and reasoning skills so they can function better in our society.
Literacy Volunteers hopes to generate enthusiasm and meet practical needs by offering workshops that provide continuing education for the tutors. On September 20, Harry Sylvester, author of The Blue Heron: Learning with Learning Disabilities, and Marcia Cook, adult education consultant with the Department of Education, were featured at a Learning Disabilities workshop. Sylvester's inspiring message and insights and Cook's practical learning exercises provided the tutors with tools they needed to help adult learners with learning disabilities.
In October, the Waterville affiliate was able to offer "our first tutor training," says Judy Larson. "We thank United Way of Mid-Maine for their generous donation of funds and support to have this tutor training for volunteers in our area." The Tutor Training course is accredited by ProLiteracy America. Tutors take an active role in empowering an adult with improved literacy skills. Literacy Tutors help build better communities.
Enter: Adult Learners. Please. Literacy Volunteers is here for you. Its services are free. Learners meet weekly for one-on-one tutoring. If you or someone you know wants to learn how to read or improve literacy skills, please contact Literacy Volunteers - Waterville today. Call
A website, www.lvwaterville.org, is being developed. It will be an interactive resource for volunteers, members, tutors, learners, and others to get information about Literacy Volunteers - Waterville and its activities in the community. In the meantime stop by the office, call, or email for a brochure and learn more about how you or someone you know can benefit from the gift of literacy.
Editor's Note: Carla Gade is the Administrative Assistant for Literacy Volunteers - Waterville. She lives in Fairfield and is an avid reader and writer. She can be reached at Literacy Volunteers at