Top Stories
2011 Scrabble
Challenge
Featured Student
Cindi
Moore
Top 10
Most Influential
LCSC Making Progress

The 4th Annual LCSC Scrabble Challenge
The Literacy Council of Sumner County's
third annual Scrabble Challenge was a huge
success, thanks to our generous
sponsors and excellent Scrabble players. Ten
teams competed for prizes, and a grand time
was had by all. The top team, The Rutherford
Reptiles, won a prize valued at $60, and second and
third prizes were gift certificates for
meals at local restaurants.
Go to
Press Releases
Go to Featured Student
LCSC
Newsletter
May 2011
Beacon
VP Loves Her Job
Beacon Senior Vice President Cindi Moore won
the "Why I Love My Job" contest in the
Tennessean Newspaper in March, with her
essay about the joys of serving in the
Beacon organization. She speaks of "living a
dream," and that "ah-ha" moment when a child
realizes he or she can succeed at reading.
LCSC
Named in Top 10 Most Influential
The Hendersonville Star News in March named
the Literacy Council of Sumner County one of
the top ten influential organizations in
Sumner County. According to the Star News,
the LCSC goes "above and beyond the call of
duty in terms of community influence and
service."
LCSC Making Progress
In our last reporting quarter, Sept.-Dec.
2010, the Literacy Council of Sumner County
had 21 active community volunteers who
donated 172 hours of volunteer work to the
agency.
In 2009, we served around 62 students. In
2010, we served about 106. There are two
interesting things here. The first is that
we served more students with about 2/3rds of
the number of volunteers we had in 2009
because we were able to hire a part-time
literacy coordinator through a grant. In
that short amount of time, working 20-25
hours a week, a dedicated staff member
enabled us to do more work than could many
volunteers. The second interesting thing is
that the proportion of children involved in
our program nearly doubled this year. There
is clearly a need in this community not
being met and we are currently working on
addressing that need. One thing we are doing
is to offer reduced program fees to young
students through a grant we received.
Currently, around 80% of our Irlen students
see an immediate improvement in either their
quality of life or academic performance.
50% of our students in the Beacon program
have increased their reading or
comprehension by 1.5 grade levels during the
20-session program. One adult student has
gained six grade levels of reading ability
since his enrollment in the program.
We use a mix of personal goal setting and
quantitative measurement to track the
progress of the students enrolled in our
free volunteer tutoring program. Of those
who stay with the program, almost everyone
has seen some form of improvement this year.
We are really making a difference in the
lives of the citizens of Sumner County this
year. We expect three or four of our
students to graduate either from high school
or college this year.
New Vista Volunteer

Meet Jonathan Wiley, a native of
Chattanooga, Tennessee. He's a recent
graduate of MTSU, with a BS in International
Relations. This past year he served as an
officer in a student
group dedicated to promoting literacy and
community outreach, and now he's helping the
LCSC achieve our literacy goals for Sumner
County. Welcome, Jonathan!
Upcoming
Events
Thank you to everyone who supported the LCSC
last year. We had a lot of fun with
Breakfast With Santa and the Scrabble
Challenge, and we hope you did, too. For the
2010-2011 fundraising season there will be a
fall literacy event. Details will be
announced soon. This event will not be part
of the HolidayFest program.
In March we will once again have the
Scrabble Challenge.
Featured
Student
Jamie Lee
Luthy

Jamie Lee Luthy has been selected for
Honorable Mention for the 2010 Yes I Can!
Award by the Irlen Institute. The Irlen
Institute has selected Jamie Lee Luthy for
Honorable Mention for the 2010 “Yes I Can!”
Award which is given to an individual with
Irlen Syndrome who has managed to excel. Her
outstanding achievement in the face of
hardship is being recognized and rewarded.
Congratulations to Jamie Lee.
Our goals for
2010:
-
Develop an
effective community education program.
-
Strengthen our
board and advisory committees.
-
Impact more lives
in Sumner County.
Volunteer
Needs
-
Board of Directors
members. Especially volunteers with
experience in law or human resources.
-
Math tutors.
Volunteers with basic math skills such
as addition and subtraction,
multiplication and division, and
fractions. Knowledge of algebra and
geometry would be helpful. (1-2 hrs. per
week).
-
Office help.
Filing, answering phones, entering data.
(4-6 hrs. per week.)
-
QuickBooks help.
We're looking for a volunteer to enter
our financial information into
QuickBooks once a month.
How to
Donate
Perhaps you would like
to donate $25 in order to help us meet our
goal of impacting more lives in Sumner
County? If you would like to
make a donation, please make your check
payable to The Literacy Council of Sumner
County, and mail it to: 260 W. Main St.,
Ste. 111C, Hendersonville, TN 37075 Thank
you.
The
Literacy Council of Sumner County
Board of Directors
Jeff Coker, President
Jill Grim, Secretary
Linsey Capps
Tina Gabbard
Bryan Jones
Mark Ross
♦Press
Releases♦
Margie Anderson Awarded
2009 Beacon Instructor of the Year
Beacon Literacy press release
Volunteer
Tutor Nominated for Middle Tennessee Award
The Literacy Council
of Sumner County (LCSC) has nominated one of
their volunteer tutors, Sally McCanner, for
the Mary Catherine Strobel Volunteer Awards,
according to LCSC Director, Margie Anderson.
The Mary Catherine
Strobel Volunteer Awards is a program
established by Hands On Nashville to
recognize volunteers in Middle Tennessee
that have selflessly given their time and
talent to improve their community. Strobel
Awards nominees are invited to attend a
luncheon on April 22nd in Cool Springs to
celebrate their commitment to service.
“We nominated Sally
because of the dedication, flexibility, and
caring attitude she has exhibited as a
volunteer tutor for the Literacy Council,”
states Anderson. McCanner has been a
volunteer tutor at the LCSC for two and a
half years, and has worked all that time
with one student. She has been able to keep
her student motivated, and she has worked
diligently with him to improve his English
skills and help him toward his goal of
earning a high school diploma.
“Part of the reason
Sally has been such an effective tutor for
our agency is that she is adept at coping
with her student's schedule changes and
shifts in his needs. Sally's been creative
in finding materials for him to work with,
and she makes herself available in between
tutoring sessions if her student needs
additional help with homework or is
preparing for a test,” says Anderson.
According to McCanner,
“Volunteering for the Literacy Council of
Sumner County is a good opportunity to meet
people I otherwise might never have
encountered.” She also trains guide dog
puppies, and is currently training her
twentieth dog.
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