Dear Editor,

On behalf of the board of directors for the Portage County Literacy Council, we would like to thank the businesses, teams, and supporters who made our Words & Friends for Literacy event a success. In particular, we’d like to thank our event sponsors, Worzalla and Worldbuilders, who strongly believe in our work. We would also like to thank our media sponsor, NRG Media; triple word sponsors, Associated Bank, Marshfield Clinic Health System, and Sentry; and our double word sponsors, Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection, Community First Bank, Delta Dental, and DigiCOPY. For a full list of sponsors, visit www.pocolit.org/fundraiser/.

The funds raised through this event are used to provide literacy services to adults that live or work in Portage County. An estimated 7% of Portage County residents lack basic prose literacy skills. According to ProLiteracy, “the salaries of adults with below-basic literacy skills are, on average, $28,000 less than salaries of adults with proficient skills.”

Adult literacy is critical to ensuring a strong community and workforce, and PCLC provides an important and unique service. Through one-on-one tutoring and small group instruction, we help adults improve their literacy levels so they can achieve their goals for themselves and their families. We do this with a small budget and the help of trained volunteer tutors that believe in our work. Our learners choose to come to us for services and have the desire and the ability to learn.

There is more to literacy than simply reading and writing. Literacy is the way we understand information in order to make decisions about our own lives. We need to be able to read, write, and communicate at high levels in order to maintain family-supporting jobs, read to our children and support them in school, interact with our neighbors and volunteer in our community, understand health information and bills, and so much more. Our goal is to empower the adults with whom we work to participate more fully in our community as parents, employees, students, neighbors, and friends.

Join our efforts by donating to support our work or volunteering as an adult literacy tutor.  If you or someone you love is living with low literacy skills, give us a call. We can help. Call 715-345-5341 or visit www.pocolit.org for more information.

Sincerely,

Eddie Glade, Board President
Kristy SeBlonka, Executive Director