Volunteer Program
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In late 1992, The Literacy Council of Highlands began as a small volunteer organization. Its
founding was justified through surveys and statistics which found that one-third of the adult
population in Macon County does not have a high school diploma and almost 15% of those
adults have less than a ninth grade education. The Rotary Club of Highlands was instrumental
in the inception of the Literacy Council, providing seed money for materials and by acting as a
community partner. The Rotary Club was also vital to the Literacy Council in recruiting
volunteer tutors from within the club and from the community as well. The original Board of
Directors, consisting of four people, had their first board meeting on the floor of a local cabin
which, at the time, was being rented by Founder and Executive Director, Susie DeVille.
Thus, the Literacy Council of Highlands was fully launched by the spring of 1993, with a dozen
volunteers ready to tutor in the basement of the local Methodist Church. The initial focus of the
Council was primarily Adult Literacy. However, with calls continuously coming in from local
parents seeking help for their children who were struggling with reading, math and other school
subjects, the enormous need for school-aged student tutoring became immediately apparent.
Several calls came in for GED prep tutoring as well, causing a slight shift in the focus of the
Council.
Today, the Literacy Council is still a small but wonderfully thriving organization, with a full-time
Executive Director and budget of about $70,000. The Council has a main office, a new
Computer Lab, and several small tutoring rooms, located in the Peggy Crosby Center, a
community building in Highlands that offers slightly reduced rent to nonprofits. The Literacy
Council continues to rely on support from the Rotary Club of Highlands, local churches,
Mountaintop Rotary Club, local and non-local foundations as well as the unyielding support from
local merchants, restaurants and community residents. The Council would not be able to
conduct its daily business without the tireless efforts of its volunteer tutors, who give of their
time and energy with big hearts and intelligent minds.
The Literacy Council now has several programs: After-School Tutoring, After-School ESL,
GED, English as a Second Language, Adult Literacy, and our Computer Lab, which is used in
four of our six programs. The biggest program is our After-School Tutoring Program, with over
70 students enrolled. This program is vital in helping to break the cycle of illiteracy in our area.
The Council partners with Southwestern Community College in offering its GED classes and
ESL class, and we have both reading tutorial and language learning software in the new
Computer Lab. We offer all of our services at no charge to our 150+ students each year.
A community is only as strong as the citizens who comprise it, and literacy skills are obviously
essential and vital to both our fellow citizens and our community as a whole. We do not receive
any funding from the federal or state government; 90% of our budget comes from our fund
raising efforts and the generosity of community members who realize how important literacy is to
our community.
So please join us on Wednesday, August 15, at 6:30, at the Performing Arts Center for our
exciting new annual fund raising event, “Loving Literacy: A Premiere Gala”. During this event,
you will enjoy a night reminiscent of a Hollywood Academy Award Night, complete with the red
carpet, paparazzi and press. We will start the night with wine and a delectable array of hors d’
oeuvres provided by The Kitchen of Let Holly Do The Cooking. After the performance of the
hilarious comedy, “How the Other Half Loves”, by British playwright, Alan Ayckbourn, mingle with
the cast over dessert and coffee from Blackberry Hill Bakery and Deli and have your picture
taken with cast members! There will also be a drawing for golf packages donated from local
country clubs, valued at $500 or more.
We are able to offer our programs at no cost to our students because of the community support
we receive and we cannot do so without you! So please join us for this fun and exciting event
on August 15th. Tickets are $125 and are available for purchase at Cyrano’s Bookshop on
Main Street in Highlands and at the Literacy Council at 348 S. 5th Street in Highlands. All
proceeds benefit the Literacy Council. Please call Breta at 526-9938, ext 240 for more
information.
P