On Tuesday I had the pleasure of attending a reading and interpretation of works from Langston Hughs, Mya Angelou and others at the Cape Fear Literacy Council in Wilmington, NC performed by three women in front of a crowd of over thirty people. They did an amazing job. What made it more amazing is that these three women entered cape Fear Literacy Council a few years ago with reading levels below third grade.
After they were done, five or six other students read short and told us of their successes. One woman had just passed the math component of the GED, the last piece of the puzzle she needed, and was graduating with her GED. Another said that she passed a test to get a better job. Success stories from people who had improved their reading and math abilities. All of the teachers at Cape Fear are volunteers, people who have given up their time to make a difference.
We take reading for granted, and we don’t often think about how important it is. We also don’t think about how many people can’t read, or have such a low reading ability that they are functionally illiterate.
This is a bit of a plug as my daughter Rachel works here. She started as a volunteer after she moved to Wilmington teaching students to read and helping to organize fundraisers. When she graduated with her MPA they created a job for her. Here’s the plug, check out their website for information on events they are holding and pay them a visit.
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