Welcome to the South Dakota Literacy Council Online!

Thanks for checking out this web site! The site provides us with a way to communicate with our members and also with the general public.

Check out the officers to see if you can contact one of them for pertinent information about our council. If you don’t know of anyone in your own area, contact Sally Hillner, 605-692-5560, sallyh@brookings.net, or Betty VanderZee, 605-627-5138, cbvzee@msn.com for more information.

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:

Our annual Literacy Breakfast will be on Saturday, September 17, 2011, at 8:30 a.m. at the Surbeck Center at the SD School of Mines & Technology.

We haven’t received many RSVPs yet and need to get a “head count” by Thursday.

To RSVP and for further information, call the Literacy Network hotline at 394-5454. Hope to see you there!

We need readers at the Mall for the Easter readings by the Easter Bunny on the 16th and the 23rd. The times will be 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Volunteers will be reading by the Easter set down by Zales. They will have a chair and the books will be on a table. We’ll need two people for each shift.

Please call the Literacy Network at 394-5454 to sign up.

Thanks in advance for your support!

We are working on our annual application to United Way and need to collect accurate data for the report. How many students did you tutor during 2010?

Also our reported volunteer hours are lower in 2010 than in 2009 and we believe it’s just a matter of missing reports. Please call Anne Chrisman at 390-0436 to discuss your volunteer activities.

We recently held a community-wide literacy gathering on Saturday, February 26, at the Literacy Network. This was a chance to network with others and to renew a passion for literacy. Refreshments were served.

Watch the News page for information about an upcoming tutor training class in the Black Hills area. It has not been arranged yet, but hopefully will be in the near future.

Trapper McClanahan, son of Alma McClanahan passed away July 3, 2010. We extend sympathy to Alma.

The Literacy Network has a new location at the Rushmore Mall. We are now located next to where Target used to be and we have lots more space. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped move, paint, set up, etc.!

We are in need of volunteers for Wednesdays and Thursdays starting at 4:15 p.m. (That’s when Elsie leaves.) If you can help, please call the hotline at 394-5454. If you can find a friend to share the shift…each of you work every other week…that would be wonderful too. As an added incentive we have hundreds of donated books to browse through. Thanks in advance for your help!

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.