Helping Individuals Learn to Read (Aired March 12, 2023)

          

    

RadioRotary interviews Laura Lane, Poughkeepsie program coordinator for Literacy Connections of the Hudson Valley. Literacy Connections uses a state-approved tutoring program with trained volunteers to help adults gain reading skills and tutor immigrants with poor or no English. The services of Literary Connections are free; donations from individuals, foundations, and government agencies support the organization. Although the program works all year, the highlight of the year comes with the annual Spelling Bee at Marist College, a competition for high-school students and adults; sponsors for the Spelling Bee contribute to the funds that have kept the program going for more than 45 years. Functional illiteracy is more than just the inability to read words–literacy is the ability to understand, evaluate, use, and engage with written texts in ways enabling a person to participate in society, achieve that person’s goals, and develop his or her knowledge and potential. It includes the skills needed to fill out forms and read instructions, not just to read or write and understand a sentence.

Learn More
Literary Connections of the Hudson Valley: http://www.literacyconnections.org/
National Spelling Bee::http://spellingbee.com/
Illiteracy in the United States: https://ortongillinghamonlinetutor.com/illiteracy-statistics-in-the-united-states/
English as a Second Language: https://educationusa.state.gov/your-5-steps-us-study/research-your-options/english-language/what-are-english-language-programs

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March 30, 2023 · Posted in Arts & Letters, Education, Events, Literacy, Service Organizations  

Red Hook Citizen of the Year (Aired On October 16, 2022)

      

Radio Rotary once again comes live from the Taste Budd’s Café in Red Hook.  On this program Carl Dowden, Chairman of the Red Hook Rotary Foundation,introduces Amy Smith, Red Hook Rotary’s Citizen of the Year for 2022. Smith is Director of Programs and Youth Services at Red Hook Public Library, but also is engaged with Red Hook Village in several other ways. She worked with Rotary and the Town of Red Hook on installing WiFi at the Red Hook Recreation Park for use during the covid pandemic. Smith also tutors English as A Second Language, and she is a member of both the Dutchess County Youth Board and the Think Differently Planning Committee, activities that earned her the Citizen award. Also on the program Red Hook Rotary President Jennifer Van Voorhis describes the Klick program for recycling and Red Hook Youth-Exchange (YEX) coordinator Christine Chale outlines two types of international youth exchange.

Learn More:
Red Hook Rotary Club: https://www.redhookrotaryclub.org/
Red Hook Rotary on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RedHookRotary/
Amy Smith on Daily Catch: https://www.thedailycatch.org/articles/rotary-club-names-red-hook-librarian-amy-smith-citizen-of-the-year/?fbclid=IwAR0MIGtLfcVo7KGlOzH4A0R0nocexkEjHPe12JCK0WCcdWKJpVMsUMp5C5w
Red Hook Public Library: https://redhooklibrary.org/
District 7210 Youth Exchange: http://yex7210.org/

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Dictionaries for Schools and More (Aired on September 26, 2021)

RadioRotary welcomes Mary French, director (and founder) of The Dictionary Project, a nonprofit that provides dictionaries, primarily to children in third grade. Inspired by the example of Annie Plummer, who began giving dictionaries to schools near her home in Georgia in 1992, Mary French of Charleston, South Carolina, and her husband started The Dictionary Project in 1995. Four years later the Project had provided dictionaries to all the schools in South Carolina and was helping get dictionaries to those in need of them worldwide. Among its other dictionary-related activities, it—along with a number of other sources—provides a “Word of the Day” for improving vocabulary. The Dictionary Project partners with service clubs, such as Rotaries, in delivering dictionaries to school children. It offers nine different English-language dictionaries, including three from Merriam-Webster, as well as other types such as foreign-language dictionaries.

Learn more:
The Dictionary Project: https://www.dictionaryproject.org/
Merriam-Webster: https://www.merriam-webster.com/
Word of the Day: https://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-the-day/
Pleasant Valley Rotary: https://rotarydistrict7210.org/clubinfo/pleasant-valley

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October 1, 2021 · Posted in Arts & Letters, Children, Education, Literacy, Rotary Club Projects  

Phoenix: The Pleasant Valley Library (Aired July 18, 2021)

A Phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor according to legend, but the Pleasant Valley Free Library is doing the same in reality. Pleasant Valley Rotarian Dave Kruger, the current vice-president of the library board, returns to RadioRotary to provide the exciting details. Since a fire destroyed the interior of the library in 2018, operations have continued in a former supermarket donated rent-free to the library by Herb Redl Properties. Meanwhile, the Board has raised nearly $3 million to create a new building at the old site, keeping the still standing outer walls and adding new space on the ground floor to make a handicapped-accessible one-story library space from the former two-story 19th-century structure. The patron-and-staff usable portion of the building will be double the size of the previous structure—the old 2 nd floor will now be devoted to mechanical support. It is anticipated that the new building will be open early in 2022. The RadioRotary program also includes information about the small-but-mighty Pleasant Valley Rotary Club.

Learn more:
Pleasant Valley Free Library: https://pleasantvalleylibrary.org/
Pleasant Valley Library on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pleasantvalleylibrary/
Pleasant Valley (NY) Rotary Club: https://rotarydistrict7210.org/clubinfo/pleasant-valley
Pleasant Valley Rotary on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PleasantValleyRotary.7210/
Friends of the Pleasant Valley Library on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FriendsofthePVLibrary/

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