Welcome to the South Dakota Literacy Council Online!

Our goal is to help people receive educational help in a confidential setting. If you or someone you know is looking for a reading/math tutor—we will try to help you find a volunteer tutor. You can help. Become a member by contacting any officer or using the "Join SDLC" link.

NEWS ITEMS:

The SDLC (South Dakota Literacy Council) Winter Quarterly meeting will be held at the Pizza Ranch in Ft. Pierre on Saturday, January 23, 2010 at 11 a.m. MST (Noon CST). Please join us if you can.

UPDATE:
The SDLC Quarterly January 23 MEETING at Ft. Pierre is cancelled!
Please check this site for the time and location for the next meeting—most likely to be held in April.
For more information, check with John Berglund, 605-722-6828
Agenda:
Appointment of standing committee chairs
New Age Reader Checking Account rules
Proposed Bylaws Change: possible 3 meetings per year.

Paul Mohl, our current Tutor-Student Coordinator, will be retiring at the end of this year. We are looking for someone he can train as a replacement. The bylaws have the following job description: "The duties of the Tutor-Student Coordinator shall be to keep records on tutors and students and to match tutors with students. The Coordinator shall also match tutors with mentors."

This person also does the intake screening of the students, so an educational background would be helpful. Since this is a really big job, we've decided it could be shared by two people. Perhaps one could focus on the intakes and the other focus on the tutor-student matches.

The Tutor-Student Coordinator also helps with promotion for the March and October workshops. If this is a position for which you would like to volunteer or if you have any questions, please contact Paul Mohl at 923-5583.

We are in need of volunteers at the Literacy Network office at the Rushmore Mall. The work is very simply to be there to answer the phone and answer inquiries from Mall patrons. Training takes about an hour.

As you may know, Elsie Kephart has been spending 50 to 60 hours a week at the Literacy Network. She will be cutting back on the number of days she'll be there and will arrange her tutoring for those days. Even when Elsie's there, another person should be at the front desk. So we really need to get volunteers to help with coverage. The following shifts are available:

Monday
12 noon - 2 p.m.

Tuesday
10 a.m. - 12 noon 12 noon - 2 p.m. 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Wednesday
10 a.m. - 12 noon
12 noon - 2 p.m.
2 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Thursday
12 noon - 2 p.m.
2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Friday
10 a.m. - 12 noon
12 noon - 2 p.m.
2 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Saturday
10 a.m. - 12 noon
12 noon - 2 p.m.
2 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Please call 394-5454 to sign up for a shift.

We have published a book entitled “MEMORIES.” Nearly all of the articles, poems, and autobiographies are written by New Readers. We thank the South Dakota Council on Developmental Disabilities for the grant that made it possible for us to do this project. Through the grant we were able to hold a writing workshop with two South Dakota authors and to cover the expenses associated with the printing of the book. The cover of the book was drawn by one of the writers. See more information about the book on the “News” link.

My Desire to Learn by “Poncho”

The following is a song that I wrote after I joined the Literacy program. I wrote it to hopefully help reading adults understand the feelings and pain that someone like me goes through every day of my life because I do not know how to read and write. Hopefully, it also conveys the joy and hope I had as I started to learn to read.

It doesn’t make sense
This desire I feel.
Why I never could read
Yet, I know that I will.

Your words excite me.
I warm at the sounds.
Your nouns seem to invite me
To stay and learn awhile.

You’re on my mind and in my heart.
I’ve loved you so right from the start.
Though the words will keep us apart.

Is it just a fantasy?
Or do you feel the way I do?
I hardly know how to read.
But I know some day I will.

You’re on my mind and in my heart.
I’ve loved you so from the start.
Though the words will keep us apart.
Though the words will keep us apart.

I can only hope that this has helped someone understand what an illiterate person feels every day of his or her life and that if you know someone who can not read or write, PLEASE try to encourage him or her to get help through their local Literacy Council. Be aware that they will be afraid of anyone knowing that they can not read and write as they could be afraid of being rejected by all.

Published in South Dakota: A Journey Through Time Tutor Tips, Sarah D. Hillner, Ed. (Prairie View Press, 2002) Poncho has also set this poem to music.