Winnebago County
Literacy Council

"We teach so others may reach"

106 Washington Ave
Oshkosh, WI 54901
920.236.5185
www.winlit.org

The Winnebago County Literacy Council (WCLC) has been providing literacy services to adults throughout Winnebago County since its inception in 1989. The primary focus of the agency is to provide one-to-one tutoring opportunities to adults reading at or below a fourth-grade level. The WCLC utilizes trained volunteer tutors to teach adult students how to read and apply basic survival literacy skills to everyday life.

Please contact us if you know an individual who is in need of literacy services. Referrals may be made to Raissa Reimer, our Student Services Coordinator, at reimer@winlit.org, or by calling 236-5219 x 4802.

New Benefactors!

Each month, we acknowledge our new or renewing benefactors. These are hard working business people and friends who are willing to share their resources to see the Winnebago County Literacy Council and its programs grow.
To view the list of new or renewing benefactors, click here!

Younker's Community Day

November 15, 2008

The WCLC is selling coupon booklets to the public for $5 each, keeping 100% of the proceeds! Each booklet contains coupons valid during Younker's Community Day One Day Sale on November 15th.

What will customers receive in each booklet? With each $5 coupon booklet purchase, customers receive:

• One $10 coupon, good toward any item of $10 or more (exclusions apply)
• Eight additional coupons, each good for up to 20% off one item (exclusions apply)—in addition to our special One Day Sale prices.

Pick up your booklet at the Literacy Council office. Questions, call Liz at 236-5185.

Giving to the WCLC is Easier in 2008!

Beginning in 2008 you may make a monthly contribution to the Winnebago County Literacy Council by having funds from your savings or checking account automatically deposited to the WCLC. You simply decide on the amount you want to contribute, click on our the credit/debit authorization form, complete and return the form to us, and we'll do the rest!

Credit/Debit Authorization Form

New Partners!

Two Heritage Makers consultants are pleased to announce they will be donating 25% of their profits to the Literacy Council for sales generated through people, parties, and events associated with the Literacy Council.  Heritage Makers is a web-based system of creating your own hardcover, professionally-published storybooks, posters, calendars, and cards.  For more information, visit www.AStoryToHold.com or email Carolyn Dargevics at cadargevics@yahoo.com.  You may also phone the consultants: Rhonda Gustafson at 920-740-4277 and Carolyn Dargevics at 920-203-3610.

Support WCLC with Goodsearch.com and raise money!

What if the WCLC earned a penny every time you searched the Internet? Or how about if a percentage of every purchase you made online went to support our cause? Well, now it can!

Use http://www.goodsearch.com/ as your search engine - we earn a penny for every search you do.

GoodSearch.com is a new Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would ny search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up!

GoodShop.com is a new online shopping mall which donates up to 37 percent of each purchase to your favorite cause! Hundreds of great stores including Amazon, Target, Gap, Best Buy, ebay, Macy's and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop and every time you place an order, you’ll be supporting your favorite cause.

Just go to www.goodsearch.com and be sure to enter the Winnebago County Literacy Council as the charity you want to support. And, be sure to spread the word!

"We Care" Pick n' Save

You can support the WCLC each time you shop at Pick n' Save. Stop at the customer service desk and ask to have the WCLC account number assigned to your card. Each time you use your card we get a donation!

What's New

Winnebago County Literacy Council
1st Annual
Team SCRABBLE®
Fundraiser

Team SCRABBLE®, sponsored by Becket's Restaurant, was held Friday, September 26, 2008. More than 20 individuals participated in the inaugural event, enjoying the challenge of pitting their word skills against others.

Laura, Dave, Jeff and Katie Coggins, representing Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin – Fox Valley, took home top honors.  Lexicon Liberators teammates Tyson Webb, Courtney Kottman, Breenna Biese and Renee Redmond, placed second.   Natalie Johnson, David Simonsmeirer, Jamie and David Hunt, of the Titan Wordo’s, finished third.

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin - Fox Valley

Lexicon Liberators

Titan Wordo's

Join us in the fall of 2009!

Celebrate Health Literacy Month

October 2008

Health Literacy Month, celebrated each October, is a time when health literacy advocates around the world promote the importance of understandable health information. Health literacy, the ability to read, understand and act on health information, is an emerging public health issue that affects all age, race and income levels. Started by Helen Osborne in 1999, this month is a timeforall health literacy advocates tolet the world knowwhy health literacy matters.

Research shows that many American adults have difficulty understanding and acting upon health information. Regardless of reading level, patients prefer medical information that is easy to read and understand.  For people who don’t have strong reading skills, however, easy-to-read health care materials are essential. 

Low Health Literacy affects Americans in a variety of ways. Medication errors occur when an individual does not understand instructions on a medicine bottle.Medication errorslead to missed doses and an assumption of non-compliance. Medical forms may be incomplete, leaving health care providers unaware of patient risk factors or pre-existing conditions. Healthcare is often delayed because of difficulty navigating the healthcare system or inability to understand appointment slips. Less knowledge about their medical conditions and treatment leads to poor disease management and increased hospital stays.

Low Health Literacy is one of the least recognized yet most widespread challenges to achieving better health outcomes and lowering health care costs in the United States. Low health literacy costs the health system as much as $73 billion a year. Low health literacy impacts nearly one in every three people living in the United States.  The health of 90 million people in the United States may be at risk because of difficulty some patients experience in understanding and acting on health information. One out of five American adults reads at a 5th grade level or below, and the average American reads at the 8th to 9th grade level, yet most health care materials are written above the 10th grade level. Literacy skills are a stronger predictor of an individual's health status than age, income, employment status, education level, and racial or ethnic group.

Despite these facts,many health care providers, payers and policymakers remain largely unaware of the extent of the problem.  Health Literacy Regional Action Committees have been formed through Wisconsin Literacy to help promote awareness of this issue, provide education to those with low literacy levels, and develop resources for both consumers and providers of health care to facilitate increased health literacy.

The Winnebago County Literacy Council has worked with Aurora Medical Center to rewrite discharge instructions to make them more understandable to those with low health literacy skills.  We are also partnering with Aurora in our Family Literacy Program.  Aurora’s community educators are working with the adults, helping them develop better awareness and health skills. Thanks to Affinity Health Care and the American Red Cross for donating supplies used to create home first aid kits.

Carrie Tucker, a local resident of Oshkosh, is pleased to be joining the WCLC as the Early Learning Specialist. Carrie is a 2003 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is currently pursuing her second bachelor's degree at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in secondary education/broadfield social sciences, minoring in history with two areas of concentration in sociology and political science. Carrie's ultimate dream is to be a high school history teacher. However, in the last decade, she has enjoyed working with children of all ages and backgrounds. From being a Sunday school teacher, developing an after-school program for kids living at a temporary housing facility, serving as a park program leader through Green Bay's Park and Recreation summer program, teaching choreography for several area high school groups, to serving as the Performance Specialist for the Appleton Boychoir, Carrie feels she is "truly blessed" to have worked with so many driven and talented young individuals.

When not studying or instructing, Carrie enjoys scrapbooking/cardmaking, camping, and watching sports (preferably the Brewers or the Packers). She is elated to be a new part of the WCLC and is grateful for the opportunity to support its compassionate outreach initiatives! We're delighted to have her on board.

The Winnebago County Literacy Council is partnering with People First Oshkosh and Arc Winnebago County Disability Association in I VOTED 2008, a strategic campaign designed by People First Oshkosh to get people with disabilities, their families, guardians and caretakers registered to vote, educated to vote and mobilized to vote.

Many people with low literacy skills do not vote because they do not feel informed about the candidates and issues.  Because of this, the goal of many literacy programs today is to improve functional literacy skills, helping clients to increase their participation in society by becoming informed about issues that affect them, according to Dr. William Kitz, a retired University of Wisconsin Oshkosh professor.

Our board president, Bob Poeschl, who works with the Arc, has the ability to register people to vote.  So if you are a student, tutor or a family member of either, please contact him to assist you in registering to vote, finding polling places and even assistance to the polls. He can be reached at 920-236-9230 or at the Ability Resource Center, 115 Washington Avenue, Oshkosh.

Tutor Resource

The Literacy Council now has access to FREE public transportation vouchers for your students. The Arc - Winnebago County Disability Association has received a grant funded through the New Freedom Initiative which is designed to support current public transportation services and alternatives to public transportation.  The goal is to address some of the transportation issues that elderly, disabled and economically-challenged people face.  The program is called the Community Access Through Transportation Voucher Program. 

Here is how it works:  individuals experiencing economic hardship, individuals with disabilities, and/or elderly will receive vouchers from The Literacy Council.  The individuals will call transportation providers (City Cab, etc.) for rides in exchange for vouchers.  In turn, the transportation providers will turn in vouchers they receive to the Arc for reimbursement.  The vouchers can be used for transportation to/from tutoring sessions, employment, medical appointments, social or religious activities.  See a staff member for more information.

WCLC Board Member

Jan Wetterau-Houge

Most of us take our ability to read and write for granted.  These are basic skills learned in grade school.  I strongly believe that reading is the single most important subject to be taught in school because, without basic reading skills, opportunities in life are limited.   And, because I believe this is a barrier that can and should be eliminated, I chose to become involved with the Winnebago County Literacy Council. 

The Council was at one time housed in the same building where I worked and when I saw a recruitment poster looking for volunteers to promote adult literacy, I knew that this was a program I wanted to be involved in.  I called the council and, after a short training session, I was assigned to work with an adult who had limited reading and writing skills.

My student and I met once a week for several years and it was truly a rewarding experience for me.  I not only had an opportunity to teach; I had an opportunity to learn.  My student was a gifted photographer and a nature enthusiast.  He practiced his reading and writing skills by keeping a journal of his almost daily walks in the woods and, as a result, I learned more about nature that I ever thought possible. 

The best part of our learning time together came after my student wrote a letter to the editor of the Appleton Post Crescent.  After he initially wrote the letter we spent a session discussing the topic and the point he wanted to make so that others would understand his stand on the subject at hand.  He then made revisions he felt appropriate and submitted the letter which was published.  A few days later the newspaper’s editor granted his letter the “Silver Pen Award.”  This is an honor bestowed upon the letter that is the most precise and to the point.  Needless to say my student was very happy.  I must admit that I was pretty thrilled that he had gained the confidence and skill to compose and submit such a great letter.

Teaching in this environment is a rewarding experience and I encourage everyone to contact the Winnebago County Literacy Council to become a volunteer.  Can there be a better way to spend just a few hours a week than to help other adults become more self-sufficient?

I now sit on the Board of Directors for the Winnebago County Literacy Council.  I am past secretary and currently chair the board management committee.  We are looking for others to join us in our quest to bring awareness to the community, raise funds, and support this important cause.  Please give us a call.

Programs

Location:  Oshkosh Public Library

Dates: October 13th through the 16th (Monday - Thursday)

Time: 6:00pm – 9:00pm

Check our website, www.winlit.org, or contact us for November training dates.

Location:  Oshkosh Public Library

Date: Saturday, October 25    

Time: 9:00am-1:00pm

Help open someone's world to opportunities once never thought possible.
Give the gift of reading -- register for a workshop today!!!

One-on-One Literacy Tutoring

WCLC provides one-to-one tutoring opportunities to adults and families in the areas of Basic Literacy, ESL, Family Literacy, Math, Workplace Literacy, and Citizenship.

One-on-One Family Literacy Tutoring Program

WCLC will train volunteer tutors to work with families at the library, in their homes, or another mutually agreed upon location in order to improve literacy levels and promote learning together as a family. This program hopes to empower parents to see themselves as their child’s first and best teacher.

Family Literacy Program

The Family Literacy Program serves refugee families needing to learn survival English. This Family literacy Program provides an Adult English as a Second Language (ESL) classes for parents while their children received age-appropriate learning in an Early Learning Classroom at the same time.

For information on any of these programs, contact Raissa Reimer at reimer@winlit.org or call 236-5219 ext. 4802.

Volunteer Spotlight

Michele Sliwicki and Family Literacy Children

I became involved with the Winnebago County Literacy Council after reading an article on Literacy in the Post-Crescent.

While meeting with Raissa she mentioned the Family Literacy Program at St John’s in Oshkosh and I knew it was just the opportunity I was looking for.  I have not been disappointed, I love working with the children while their parents attend class.    I didn’t realize how much I missed young children (my children are now in high school and college) until I started volunteering at St. John’s.  I have come to greatly admire the people in the program and truly feel I am giving back to my community.

Events

Who will be the 2009 Champions?

The Oshkosh Public Library Team Reclaims Their Title as the 2008 Bee Champs! Can they retain their title again this year? And will St. John Neumann Middle School Team be able to repeat?

Join us again next September for our 2nd Annual

Team Scrabble Fundraiser

Becket's Restaurant

City Center

Wanted!

Adult Literacy Tutoring Program

Cassette players with recording option

Blank cassette tapes

Family Literacy Program

Gift certificates to grocery stores to purchase snacks

Small to medium size foam or Dixie cups

Juice

Crackers

Napkins and paper plates

Play dough

Office Supplies

Dry eraser markers (wipe boards)

Copy paper

Manila file folders

Black and color ink cartridges (Black is 96 Color is 97)

Of Interest

Business or articles of interest to the WCLC readership.

Do you have an article or item of interest to the business or education community that will benefit our tutors or students? We'd enjoy your input! This is a great way to spotlight your company, message or name! Contact Liz Rice Janzen!

Wisconsin Literacy is announcing its annual Twelve Hundred Tutors in Twelve Weeks (THT) campaign.  

“Twelve Hundred Tutors in Twelve Weeks” is a statewide recruitment effort to meet the rising demand for services among adult literacy programs in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Literacy member organizations pledge to recruit and train a specific number of new tutors during this campaign.

Approximately one million Wisconsin adults qualify for adult literacy and English language services (U. S. Census 2000). Less than 10% of these adults in need of services are currently receiving them.Thirty-seven literacy programs throughout the state set out to increase the number of volunteers by recruiting and training 960 tutors during Wisconsin Literacy's "Twelve Hundred Tutors in Twelve Weeks" campaign that ran from September 8, International Literacy Day, through December 1, 2007.

Wisconsin Literacy is a statewide coalition of adult literacy providers that offer free instruction to adults who wish to improve their reading, writing or speaking skills in English.Through grants from Verizon, Wisconsin Literacy has held an annual statewide tutor training campaign for the last several years in order to try to meet the rising demand for services among adult literacy programs in Wisconsin. Each participating literacy program receives a reimbursement through the Verizon grant based on the amount of tutors it recruits and trains in a specific amount of time. This year, literacy programs in Wisconsin trained 960 tutors in 12 weeks.

"The campaign meets an immediate need for those learners who have been on waiting lists to receive literacy services, thereby improving their involvement as active community members, skilled workers and more engaged parents," said Georgia Weier, member services manager for Wisconsin Literacy. "It also highlights the impact a corporate leader can have in addressing this literacy issue. Verizon has invested in many communities throughout Wisconsin and the country through innovative, technology-based approaches to literacy. The company has offered a great incentive for our member programs to publicize their tutor trainings and recruit more volunteers.

Contact Us!

The easiest way to contact us is using email - you've seen our email address throughout - that of Liz Rice Janzen! Our phone number and mail address are:

920.236.5185 phone
920.236.5227 fax
106 Washington Ave. Oshkosh, WI 54901

Closing Notes:

Winnebago County Literacy Council relies exclusively on volunteers and gifts from our community to serve in our community. If you are willing to volunteer time or give a gift of money, thank you!