mattersLiteracy

Our MiSSiOn

We empower greater Bangor area adults with improved reading and English language skills that enhance life skills in the areas of family, health, work, and community through no cost, learner-centered instruction provided by dedicated and respectful trained volunteers.

Visit us on the web at www.lvbangor.org1

Advancing Literacy In the Bangor Area Community Spring 2010

In these uncertaIn economIc tImes, why would a Chinese-American businesswoman with successful restaurants in Bangor and Orono agree to carve out a half year’s time to write a book?

It started when Christine Chou, an international trade major in college, worked with her LV-Bangor tutor, Andrea Martin. Martin suggested the project after they read Out of the Dust, a Newbery Medal novel about perseverance in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl by author Karen Hesse. Martin’s seven inspiring words, “You could write a book like this,” started it all when Chou said YES! And, throughout the process, she discovered she loves to write. Her first book is A Chinese Woman’s Thoughts on American Culture.

Gifted with a bubbly personality, Chou was first trained as an LV-Bangor tutor before becoming a student. (Yes, you read correctly.) Her Chinese-speaking cooks could not communicate with her English-speaking wait staff, so she established abbreviations such as “ER” for egg roll. However, when one of the cooks ended up in the hospital ER (emergency room), things became confusing. Undaunted, Chou took it upon herself to become trained as a tutor for her cooks. When local hospitals and court-houses began to call upon her as an interpreter, she realized that she needed to expand her vocabulary to accommodate the vocabularies associated with medicine and law. And that’s when she requested an LV-Bangor tutor to help her. Executive director Mary Lyon worked to find the right person to tutor Chou. “The chemistry between tutor and student is more critical to success than any educational theory or technique,” explains Lyon. Says Chou, “I am so happy that Andrea is my tutor. She does more than teach me, she encourages me.”

Chou’s decision to “change the world, one favor at a time” has resulted in an initial donation of $500 to LV-Bangor from the sale of her book. That’s over 70 copies of Thoughts, and it’s only the start! She intends to present LV-Bangor with a check every three months and is also considering wholesaling her book to Chinese restaurants nationally.

What is important to keep in mind with Chou’s story of giving is that she is not paying LV-Bangor back for services rendered to her. She is paying forward by sponsoring new English language students and training new tutors to help them –– the way she has been helped in the past. Her life has been made better through LV-Bangor and now she is improving the lives of others seeking literacy services.

Continued on next page

What’S inSiDe

It’s Not Over Yet ............. 1

Gift of Literacy Resolution ..................... 2

One Person Can Make a Difference .......... 4

In A Word ..................... 5

Christine Chou’s Story: It’s Not Over Yet!

Christine Chou takes on the role of philanthropist with her new book!

Visit us on the web at www.lvbangor.org

Continued from page one

In cases of philanthropy, the old adage that “good things happen to people who make good things happen” holds true in Chou’s case. Her good deed has been written up by the Bangor Daily News and The Weekly and captured by local television stations. With each telling, her story brings attention to her immigrant experiences, her sought-after vegetarian menu at Chopsticks on Center

Street, her new venture as an author, and now her experience as philanthropist.

Going forward, her generosity will help many in our greater Bangor area to read, write and understand. You, too, can make a difference by picking up a copy of Thoughts at one of Chou’s restaurants, a fun “read” on the differences between American and Mandarin Chinese cultures.

—Terri Wlodarski

as a teacher, I had always wondered what would happen to students who fell through the cracks in reading and writing. Then I met Sam.

It was several Januarys ago when, as a New Year’s resolution to contribute to the community in a meaningful way, I joined Literacy Volunteers of Bangor where I met Sam and found one of those students. Sam had always struggled in American schools, though he had moved here from a Spanish-speaking country as a kindergartner. His parents grappled with English on top of substance abuse issues, and hesitated to get involved in Sam’s school challenges. By the time he was in middle school, Sam had a one-on-one aide whose main responsibility was preventing him from causing trouble in class. Shockingly, Sam left school in the tenth grade without ever learning to read.

Years later, our classroom was the small, cramped apartment in Bangor that Sam shared with his wife and three young children. The kitchen table in their tiny kitchen became his desk; there I realized that Sam had a significant learning disability that had prevented him from progressing in school all those years. He admitted that his negative behavior caused teachers to throw up their hands in frustration as he chose to cause trouble rather than admit

his disability. Despite his challenges, Sam had progressed in his profession successfully until the economy took away his job. Suddenly, Sam and his wife had to take public assistance and admit that they needed to further their education to survive.

Our one-on-one sessions were just an hour long to start, but as his family became comfortable with my presence, opportunities for literacy grew. Soon I was also tutoring his wife and reading to his children, and my weekly visit was extended to two hours and beyond. I was startled to find out that this family did not have a library card and only sporadically used the Internet. Sam had never filled out a job application without assistance, and had never written his own address at the doctor’s office or when applying for his driver’s license. Yet Sam is a bright, energetic man who wants to participate fully in life. Sam and his family came to Literacy Volunteers of Bangor to end the cycle of low literacy.

Literacy Volunteers of Bangor serves many families like Sam’s. In our area it is estimated that 25% of our population is considered low-literate. These people live in our neighborhoods and work at the businesses we rely upon throughout the greater Bangor area. Our mission at LV-Bangor is to empower

“Resolution to Share the Gift of Literacy Worthwhile”

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mattersLiteracy

rSupport Literacy Your tax-deductible gift of a life insurance policy can contribute to the LV-Bangor mission of adult literacy by naming LV-Bangor as your beneficiary.

Contact (207) 947-8451 or lvbangor@utc.utc4.k12.me.us to discuss your needs and ours today.

Bangor Daily NewsThis December 29, 2009, editorial, reprinted below, appeared in the Bangor Daily News. We thank the publisher for ongoing permission to share it with our readers.

AS SEEn In ThE:

3 these adults with improved reading and English language skills that enhance their life skills. For some, that means attaining a GED; for others, it’s learning to converse in English so that they can talk with their neighbors; for many, it’s simply the ability to read their children bedtime stories or help them with homework.

Literacy is the foundation of democracy, and education cannot be underestimated as a way to improve one’s life.

My resolution to contribute has become my passion: tutoring students has led to training volunteers, participating on support and resource committees, and serving on the LV-Bangor board. Students like Sam have given me a better understanding of how fortunate I am. Education is the way that my husband and I have improved our economic status and enriched our lives.

Literacy Volunteers of Bangor offers no cost, one-on-one educational support to hundreds of adults, like Sam. It’s all possible through private grant and individual support and the generosity of volunteers’ time. Volunteering with LV-Bangor has given me the sense of purpose and fulfillment I felt at the end of each school day when I worked as a classroom teacher. My fellow volunteers have come from all walks of life to change the direction of their lives and those of the students they tutor. At this, the traditional time for resolutions and life changes, I invite you to enrich your life through community service with an organization like Literacy Volunteers of Bangor.

People like Sam are on a waiting list now, hoping someone will volunteer.

— Jen Montgomery-Rice

Literacy is the foundation of democracy, and education

cannot be underestimated

as a way to improve one’s life.

Mary Thomas reads to Chris (l) and Devin (r). Mary is a part of the Family Literacy Program that helps LV-Bangor parents break a family’s generational

cycle of non-readers. Chris and Devin were thrilled to have books of their own thanks to the Books

Beyond Borders Campaign.

“Reading is fundamental and a right for people of all ages. Borders in Bangor is pleased to facilitate matching our customer’s generosity with the literacy needs of our Bangor-area

community. And, we’re looking forward to LV-Bangor’s next Books Beyond Borders Campaign this summer.”

—Dean Sherwood General Manager of Bangor Borders

PRogRAM To BE hELd AgAIn ThIS SuMMER

Books Beyond BordersLater this summer, BORDERS bookstore in Bangor will partner again with LV-Bangor to get children’s books into the homes of families with low literacy. Last August, BORDERS customers purchased more than 1,300 children’s books worth more than $9,000!

Teach someone to REAd and SPEAk English LV-Bangor will teach you how!

Call (207) 947-8451 or email lvbangor@utc.utc4.k12.me.us.

rSupport Literacy Are you an agency, business, or association?

Let us know if you have an idea you’d like to explore with LV-Bangor to further our mission and literacy in your environment.

Contact (207) 947-8451 or lvbangor@utc.utc4.k12.me.us to discuss your needs and ours today.

Visit us on the web at www.lvbangor.org mattersLiteracy

PrIsoners who need literacy services are more than statistics for tutor Jim Fiske. They are his fellow inmates! “People trust you. You’re one of them,” explains Fiske, who earned his Basic Literacy Tutor certification in April 2008 through the LV-Bangor office. As an active inmate-tutor at Charleston Correctional Facility [CCF], he had six students during his first year.

Fiske graduated from high school in 1968. He holds a college degree in civil engineering and has over 20 years experience with a major southern Maine construction firm. When posters offering the opportunity for literacy tutor training were put up in the prison, it was Fiske’s case worker David Needham who suggested he sign up.

Two other LV-Bangor tutors, CCF administrative secretary Judy Horten and Eastern Maine Community College professor Larry Towle, also serve CCF’s inmate population, which currently totals 137.

“You really see a lot of people here who need help,” observes Horten whose tutoring time is donated by the facility. She credits CCF unit manager Judy Bailey for coordinating the opportunity for Fiske and three other inmates

to receive LV-Bangor tutor training. It was CCF’s way of addressing a gap in their services. With his background in engineering and experience teaching classes in estimating and surveying, Fiske has tutored inmates in math in addition to reading and writing.

Librarian, educator, and policy planner Paul Robbins joined CCF in 1997 and now coordinates the contact between tutors like Towle and inmates at CCF’s Learning Center. He is familiar with Fiske and the progress students have made under his tutelage. “Mr. Fiske has been very good as a literacy volunteer,” according to Robbins who does not dispense unearned praise. “Each individual he has worked with has had very good results.”

An obvious advantage that Fiske has –– in addition to the peer approach –– is greater access to inmates. During the evenings and weekends, he has tutored where outsiders cannot: The Dormitory. Dorm Three, Fiske’s own, houses up to 50 prisoners who are usually older. “They know me and they know they have nothing to worry about,” explains Fiske. “If someone came from the outside, it would be hard to break into their shell.”

One student expressed a desire upon his release to be more helpful with tasks that were handled by his more literate spouse in the past. In general, CCF’s students “want to provide for their children,” explains Fiske. “They want to be able to read stories to their kids.”

Unlike tutor-student relationships on the “outside,” Fiske loses students as they are released. Upon his release this spring, it will be CCF that loses Fiske and his impact on the other inmates will clearly be missed. For example, Fiske failed to mention that one student under his tutelage was admitted to community college after release from CCF. “Mr. Fiske is held in high regard by other prisoners,” states Robbins, “and in prison, that’s not an easy thing to do.”

— Emily Cameron

One Person Can Make a DifferenceLV-BAngoR TuToRS AT ChARLESTon CoRRECTIonAL

Jim Fiske is one of Charleston Correctional’s trusted tutors who works with his fellow

incarcerated inmates.

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LV-BANgoR’S oFFiCE NEEdS ARE gRowiNg

do you have a two-drawer filing cabinet in working condition that you’d be willing to donate to LVB?

Contact (207) 947-8451 or lvbangor@utc.utc4.k12.me.us today.

L

Support Literacy Receive fixed annual payments for the remainder of your lifetime in exchange for your tax-deductible gift of property.

Contact (207) 947-8451 or lvbangor@utc.utc4.k12.me.us to discuss your needs and ours today.

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In A WordForward. On the eve of 2010 and looking forward to the New Year, I was invited to represent LV-Bangor with board member, Denise D’Amboise, as guests of the Bangor Breakfast Kiwanis Club. While I’m a fairly outgoing person who

enjoys mornings, it’s not every occasion that has me singing “Alouette” before 7:25 a.m. with folks I’ve just met. Yet that’s the kind of warm and friendly atmosphere this club extends its visitors.

When speaking about how low literacy affects all of us within our community, we often conclude with the ways that people can forward this important cause:

They can volunteer;

They can advocate to others on behalf of the issue, and/or;

They can support it.

So, it was with a sincere and gracious smile that I accepted my first cash donation after a presentation from a Kiwanian who wanted to sponsor a new tutor’s training. This forward thinking person was allowing an earnest volunteer who, like this donor, wanted to “pay it forward” with someone they had never met.

Other forward seeing members of this Kiwanis group offered ways that they could support adult low literacy with a club donation. So, like the Bangor Breakfast Rotary, the Bangor Noontime Rotary, and the Bangor Lions Club before them, they joined a local effort that acknowledges that for every donation, for every conversation, and with every volunteer tutor, we step forward towards a community where adult low literacy is a thing of the past.

So looking forward, if you or someone you know needs a speaker for an upcoming event, know that our presentation materials are packed and we’re even fine-tuning our singing voices!

Until next time,

Mary Marin Lyon—Executive Director

Visit us on the web at www.lvbangor.org

Save the Date

English Language Learners TrainingUnited Technology Center May 5, 10, 12, 17, 19, 24 and 26, 2010 – 6 - 9 p.m.41st LV-Bangor Recognition & Award Night and Annual MeetingUnited Technology Center June 1, 2010 – 6 p.m.Faces and Voices of LiteracyBangor Mall July 26 – August 28, 2010

TuToR TRAiNiNg SEMiNARS:Teaching Comprehension: 5 Strategies to use with Your StudentUnited Technologies Center April 26, 2010 – 6 - 9 p.m.Teaching grammar: A Lesson in the BasicsUnited Technologies Center May 7, 2010 – 6 - 7:30 p.m.

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mattersLiteracy

rSupport Literacy Consider a tax-deductible gift of securities as an annual gift to LV-Bangor to further the mission of adult literacy! Call us and we can work with you to find a plan that meets your needs and our mission.

Contact (207) 947-8451 or lvbangor@utc.utc4.k12.me.us to discuss your needs and ours today.

200 Hogan Road Bangor, ME 04401 www.lvbangor.org (207) 947-8451

LV-Bangor Board of DirectorsDenise D’AmboiseMeredith EatonGinny GiffordLamees HannaSarah QuirkRichard MadoreSue MedleyJen Montgomery-RiceAlice OpenshawCharles VeederTerri Wlodarski

Newsletter StaffManaging Editor Terri Wlodarski

Copy Editor Irene Lang

Graphic Design Tim Smith

Mission Oversight Mary Lyon

mattersLiteracy

Jen Montgomery-Rice is an LV-Bangor tutor, trainer, and member of the Board. She lives in Hampden.

Emily Cameron, a “Literacy Matters” freelance journalist, has been an English language tutor. She is “on call” as LV-Bangor’s liaison to its historical past.

Terri Wlodarski currently serves on the LV-Bangor Board, has been an English language tutor, and coordinates the publication of “Literacy Matters.” She lives in Orono.

Contributing Writers

We gratefully acknowledge the generous support from these and other corporate sponsors, and to all of our many individual supporters, we say thank you!

Non-Profit Org US Postage

Paid Permit #76 Bangor, ME

Let others know you support LV-Bangor’s mission and underwrite the printing of this newsletter. Contact (207) 947-8451 or lvbangor@utc.utc4.k12.me.us and be acknowledged in every issue you underwrite.

rSupport Literacy

TheBarbara BushFoundation forFamily Literacy