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  

Immigrant Center & Festival in Kingston, NY (Aired on April 17, 2022)

        

Dr. Sarah Litvin, Director of the Reher Center for Immigrant Culture and History and Dr. Sarah Gardner, Curator of the museum, join another Sarah (co-host Sarah O’Connell-Claitor) and co-host Jonah Triebwasser for a program updating the story of the Reher Center, a unique asset of the Kingston, NY, waterfront (the Roundout). The Reher Center is housed in the former Reher Bakery, a Kingston institution run by the Reher family for 80 years. During the restrictions of the covid pandemic, the Center used the down time to upgrade the facilities, including a new gallery that is opening with an exhibit highlighting the role immigrants have played in making Kingston a center of sewing and other aspects of the garment industry. In addition to the exhibit, the Center will host special programs on women in the garment industry and workshops in sewing and embroidery.

Learn More:
Reher Center: https://www.rehercenter.org/
Reher Center on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReherBakery/
Ulster Immigrant Defense Network: https://ulsterimmigrantdefensenetwork.org/
The Kingston Waterfront (Roundout): https://www.thekingstonwaterfront.com/
The Garment Industry in Kingston: https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2021/09/17/the-local-garment-industry-once-employed-thousands/

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April 24, 2022 · Posted in Arts & Letters, Events, Museums  

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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July 19, 2021 · Posted in Arts & Letters, Literacy, Rotary Club Close-ups, Service Organizations  

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