CELEBRATE READING
Literacy Volunteers of Rensselaer County celebrate Fall Festival
TROY, N.Y. » The Literacy Volunteers of Rensselaer County recently held a Fall Festival.
The event was a renaming of their Authors’ Night, shifting the focus to include everyone that makes the organization a success, not only the students.
President Caitlin Stein-Miner described the event as “a showcase of work throughout the year.” Highlights of the evening would include examples from the elementary school-based “everybody wins” program, the 1- on-1 tutoring services, the financial literacy program, the workplace literacy program, and the brand-new sewing literacy program.
Students, mentors, volunteers, and guests gathered at the Hilton Garden Inn in Troy that evening for a light supper and some time for socializing before the main event got underway. At the event was local author and guest of honor Dr. Steven Sandler.
“I’m excited to be here,” he said. “Encouraging literacy is so important. If you put books in the home it gives kids a huge advantage.”
As the organization’s name suggests, LVORC is almost exclusively made up of volunteers. They recruit, train, and support volunteers who provide free and confidential tutoring to adults, children and families, and outof-school teens. Some of their students are immigrants who are learning English as a new language.
“These folks are inspiring to work with,” commented math literacy volunteer Chuck Rancourt. “They really want to learn.”
LVORC is always looking for help,
through more volunteers and through donations to keep their programs running. The Fall Festival event featured a silent auction fundraiser to help with program costs.
“Tonight we’re celebrating our students, our volunteers, and all of you who have supported us,” said Judy Smith, the executive director in her opening remarks.
“Tonight is my favorite event, because we all come together as a community,” added Stein-Miner.
After opening remarks, Dr. Sandler was introduced by board of directors member Susan d’Oelsnitz. Sandler gave a brief talk and read an excerpt from his new book, “Tea With Freud: An Imaginary Conversation about how Psychotherapy Really Works.”
“For several years now, I’ve had this idea that everyone should understand what makes us tick,” he said, describing the ideas and process behind writing the book. In “Tea With Freud,” Sandler explores the idea that Freud’s work is not wholly bad. There are some ideas that are still appropriate for today’s world, such as the concept of defense mechanisms.
Sandler’s book is a promotion of psychological literacy, something that he believes everyone is capable of - he feels it would be a good topic for high schools to teach. Like any other branch of literacy, it is something anyone can understand if they are taught by a trained tutor or instructor.
After Sandler’s presentation, it was the LVORC students’ turn to give some presentations of their own. Several students came up, introduced themselves, and read stories they had written after working with their tutors.
When they were done, LVORC volunteers Nancy Calkins and Linda Feldmann talked briefly about the organization’s brandnew program in sewing literacy. In this program, adult immigrants work with tutors to learn not only the English language, but sewing and other soft skills that can be applied to a workplace.
Sewing literacy, like many other of LVORC’s literacy programs, is a language all its own and takes time and skill to master. A table was laid with completed projects on display, to show off what students had learned.
“We’ve really built the program up from zero into something quite wonderful,” commented Feldmann. She and Calkins were both wearing outfits that had been made in the program.
Other tutors also spoke about their experiences working with LVORC, all sharing positive stories of helping others and the priceless experiences they gained from knowing they had changed someone’s life for the better.
After the main presentations were done, the silent auction winners were announced and Smith took some time to recognize and thank LVORC volunteers for their dedication to the organization.
In closing remarks given by LVORC treasurer, board of directors member, event chair, and emcee Shay Harrison, he commented that he “hoped that tonight you got the feel for how wide and far the program reaches.” Rensselaer county is a big area, with a lot of people that can benefit from the services of LVORC.
New volunteers are always welcome. A tutor training workshop is coming up on Jan. 11, and three more LVORC events are scheduled for the spring: the Scrabble Challenge in
Feb., the Famous Ladies’ Tea in March, and the 5K Run/ Walk in May.