The $36,000 grant will address the growing need in Frederick County for programs that foster self-sufficiency through literacy and life skills.   

Frederick, MD [June 11, 2026] — The Literacy Council of Frederick County (Literacy Council) is proud to announce it has been awarded a $36,000 grant through the 2026 Women’s Giving Circle of Frederick County grant cycle. The funding will support the Literacy Council’s 2026–2027 initiative, “Expanding Literacy and Life Skills for Women.” 

This year-long program will expand access to tutoring, community-based classes, parent literacy programming, and new life skills and workforce readiness workshops. The initiative is designed to help women in Frederick County facing barriers to self-sufficiency build the English language and practical skills needed to succeed at home, at work, and in the community. 

Low literacy remains a significant challenge in Frederick County and across the nation. In Frederick, according to Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies: State and County Estimates of Adult Skills data, 14% of adults score at or below Level 1 literacy, putting them at risk of difficulty understanding basic printed materials, while 16% report speaking English not well or not at all. The nationwide impact extends far beyond the individual, with the National Council for Adult Learning suggesting at least $225 billion in lost productivity, increased crime, and reduced tax revenue due to low literacy. Together, these barriers limit economic mobility, strain community resources, and prevent individuals and families from reaching their full potential. 

“Literacy is more than reading and writing. It is a pathway to opportunity, stability, and connection,” said Literacy Council Executive Director Denise Hill. “We are honored to be among this year’s grantees working to improve lives and create a brighter future for our neighbors and families in Frederick.” 

Advancing parent literacy is a well-researched driver of stronger, long-term economic and employment outcomes for families. The National Institutes of Health also found that a mother’s reading ability is the strongest predictor of her children’s future academic success, surpassing factors like neighborhood and family income. 

The 2026 Women’s Giving Circle grant cycle focused on four critical areas affecting women’s self-sufficiency: health, education, housing, and transportation. The Literacy Council’s grant was among $290,000 in total funding awarded to 11 organizations in Frederick County. More information about the 2026 grants can be found at www.frederickwgc.org.  

About the Women’s Giving Circle of Frederick County 

The Women’s Giving Circle of Frederick County is a collective giving organization that funds local nonprofit programs empowering women to achieve self-sufficiency. Through member and donor contributions and strategic grantmaking, the organization works to improve the quality of life for women throughout Frederick County.

About the Literacy Council of Frederick County 

Founded in 1963, the Literacy Council provides Frederick County adults with pathways to essential literacy skills. We empower adults with the tools they need to thrive, from English language learning and workplace communication to reading, digital literacy, and everyday life skills. 

Through one-on-one tutoring, ESL classes, workplace English programs, Learning Labs, and practical workshops, we help adults build confidence, strengthen families, and open doors to better jobs and fuller participation in community life. When adults gain these skills, the entire community grows stronger. The Literacy Council has served over 12,000 students to date.

The post Literacy Council of Frederick County Awarded Women’s Giving Circle Grant to Expand Programs for Women appeared first on Literacy Council Frederick County.

The Literacy Council of Frederick County is proud to celebrate three of our students, who have each been awarded the Second Chance Scholarship through the Community Foundation of Frederick County. 

This scholarship, supported by The Mary Alice and R. David Stup Scholarship Fund, was established to uplift individuals who have faced past challenges or experiences of harm and are seeking a fresh start. With a focus on hope, resilience, and future success, the scholarship provides recipients with the opportunity to pursue education and career advancement. 

We are especially proud to share that all three students nominated by the Literacy Council received the full amount they requested, a powerful testament to their dedication, perseverance, and potential. 

Meet the Recipients 

Steefanny

Originally from Venezuela, Steefanny brings with her an educational background in Bioanalysis, earned in her home country. Determined to build on that foundation, she plans to continue her studies and pursue a career in the laboratory and healthcare fields. This scholarship will help her take the next steps toward reestablishing her professional path here in the United States. 

Jean 

Jean has demonstrated a deep commitment to his growth, consistently participating in learning opportunities at the Literacy Council. Beyond the classroom, he gives back by volunteering at his church, showing leadership and compassion within his community. With the support of this scholarship, Jean will pursue training in diesel technician work, opening doors to a rewarding career that is his passion. 

Maria  

A dedicated participant in the Literacy Council’s conversation classes, Maria is a mother of two who is working hard to strengthen her English skills. Her determination to improve communication for herself and her family is inspiring. This scholarship will allow her to continue her English language learning journey, empowering her to better navigate opportunities in her daily life and future. 

These three students exemplify the mission of the Second Chance Scholarship, turning perseverance into possibility and challenges into new beginnings. They will be among the many individuals recognized at our upcoming Celebration of Achievements, where we honor the hard work and accomplishments of our students. Sponsorship opportunities are still available for this inspiring event. By becoming a sponsor, you help ensure that more individuals like Steefanny, Jean, and Maria have access to life-changing educational opportunities. Contact us at info@frederickliteracy.org for more information. 

Looking for more ways to get involved? The Literacy Council offers programs designed to help adult learners become more successful, productive and involved members of our community, including classes, workshops, tutoring programs, and more. Our programs are powered by volunteer tutors who give just 1–2 hours a week to help change lives. Become a student, volunteer, or supporter today at FrederickLiteracy.org.

The post Celebrating Second Chances: Three Literacy Council of Frederick County Students Awarded Scholarship appeared first on Literacy Council Frederick County.

When Rosilene started taking classes here at the Frederick Literacy Council, she was looking to improve her English language skills. What she didn’t expect was that she’d also develop a community and gain so much insight into American culture.

She and her family had moved to the states from Jacarei, a city in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for her husband’s work as an aerospace engineer. They moved to Frederick in 2023 and soon settled in. Her husband was busy at work and her children at elementary school.

Rosilene found herself feeling isolated. She felt that her English language level was creating a barrier, so she decided to take language classes with us – and that’s when things changed.

“I didn’t have a community here” Rosilene says. “But (the Literacy Council) is that for me. I’m with people who are in the same situation, immigrants trying to learn English. The obstacles are the same. When you are in the real world – people there are not learning English, (but) here it’s a safe space, you can make mistakes. Sometimes in the real world, no.”

She’s taken all sorts of classes – discussion and writing classes, even a civics course. She’s also joined our book club, facilitated by volunteer Catherine Coundjeris. The book club is conducted online, but Rosilene loves that when each book is finished members met together at the Delizia Café downtown to end with an in-person discussion.

And the book club isn’t just about community. It’s also building her language skills, of course, but even more, it’s giving her insight into the culture and history of her adopted country.

“I like the selection Catherine does,” Rosilene says. “With her, I can learn more about the country.” Rosilene was fascinated to read about the great depression and the dust bowl when she read the latest book selection, Kristin Hannah’s The Four Winds.

She’s been able to dive further into American history – this time, local – by taking our civics class.

“One thing I found here is how people like history,” she says. “We don’t have much connection with history in my country.” Rosilene’s class went to the Civil War Medicine Museum together, and since then she’s noticed the historical placards all over Frederick. “If you look closely, you can breathe history here,” she says.

These days, Rosilene is feeling so much more at home in the language and culture of her new country that she found herself volunteering to help out at her church, St. John the Evangelist.

“This year I took courage and I volunteered there with faith formation,” she said. She enjoys being more involved in the community there. She helps with the classes, and teaches the kids “all about the faith.”

She’s also still hungrily pursuing more knowledge of American culture inside and outside of class: she subscribes to the Frederick Post, the Washington Post, even Good Housekeeping, and listens to local radio programs.

“I’m here trying to see another country,” she said. “Before, in my city, it felt like we lived in a bubble, we didn’t know the world.”

What she loves about her community at the Literacy Council is that she’s not only learning about America, but other countries too. “I feel here is like a big family, and you can listen to their stories, and learn from other places.”

The post Rosilene’s Story: Exploring a New Culture, Discovering Community, Part 2 appeared first on Literacy Council Frederick County.

This summer book club at the Literacy Council met for three sessions and engaged in the impactful story of Jason Reynold’s Long Way Down. It was a graphic novel powerfully illustrated by Danica Novgorodoff. It is a story of an urban youth who is tragically affected by the death of his brother through gun violence.  Reynolds’ direct but poetic language and amazing imagery was accessible to Intermediate readers and as well as Advanced students. We also listened to a video of an interview with Reynolds from the Kennedy Center.  It was enlightening how he wrote this modern-day Christmas Carol, choosing to cut down a novel sized work into the lean supple form of a poem. Family Ghosts visit the young protagonist, Will, and attempt to alter his perspective. They make him question the Rules that have guided his community for too long. The open end is a great opportunity for discussion, and the book club members engaged in a lively debate. 

We met on Zoom and the students and tutors engaged in open discussions on the many aspects of this award-winning book and its relevance to life in America today.   

We had an intimate gathering this time.  Members of the Book Club included the following students:  Y R., Rosilene, Jamila, Natta, Maria, Esperanza, Souleymane, and Nataliia as well as tutor Jill. 

The students were very enthusiastic about Reynold’s story and found belonging to the book club a great learning experience. Maria said:  I liked this book because it is different kind of reading. It is graphic novel. Seeing the drawings, I imagined the story as it happened, and the vivid descriptions made me feel like I was living that moment. I think the book invites us to reflect on how easily a gun is acquired and to change our understanding of violence, because it is a vicious cycle where violence breeds more violence. Violence is not always the solution. 

Another student, Y.R had this thoughtful response: “Long Way Down,” a graphic novel by Jason Reynolds, is not a normal style of a book for me to read.   Thanks, Ms. Catherine for the chance.  The protagonist, Will, was perplexed by the traditional rules in his community: “Don’t cry. / Don’t snitch. / Get revenge.”  “The rules weren’t meant to be broken. / They were meant for the broken to follow.” And, yet, the rules bring more misery and more death, but Will doesn’t know how to break out of it. Is he crying out for a help?  

Students from different levels came to the class and were able to experience the English language in a real-world setting. Nataliia had this to say: It was my first time to attend book club and before register myself I decided at first to practice some reading. I worried Book Club attendance is going to be hard for me. However, after I picked up the book Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, I realized it is a graphic novel what is good choice for beginning learners of English. The book was not only interesting, but also easy to read because the pictures were speaking to us as well. I am not very strong person in speaking English, but I am happy that I already can understand other English speakers. Thanks to the book club I realized the progress I made in learning English and I am thankful to the Literacy Council of Frederick County for that. 

Students in the book club were amazed to learn about the proliferation of gun violence in the United States and its detrimental effect on communities and whole families.  Rosilene shared her revelations:  The Summer Book Club with the Literacy Council of Frederick County was again a great opportunity to experience English in real life. As always, the book selection was interesting, allowing us to have a great conversation about the book and its cultural context. Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds is great, even though his audience is young readers, all of us can benefit from his writing style and message.  

Students were intrigued by the graphic novel format and were excited about the potential of reading other graphic novels.  They enjoyed Jason Reynold’s writing style and are also motivated to read other books by this author some of which are:  When I Was the Greatest, The boy in the Black Suit, All American Boys, As Brave As You, Ghost, Patina, For Everyone, Sunny, and Lu.   

Jason Reynolds is planning to visit Frederick Maryland on September 6th for the Baker Park Bandshell Read-A-Book Day. He will be available from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. and will meet with the book club members, sign their books, and answer questions about his writing process. Please come out and join us!

We have been holding the Book Club for several years now, and have read such books as The Distance Between Us: Memoir by Reyna Grande, Enrique’s Journeys by Sonia Nazario, A Revolution is Not a Dinner Party by Ying Chang Compestine, The Kite Fighters by Linda Sue Parks, All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung, and anthologies: Coming of Age in the 21st Century edited by Mary Frosch and Coming of Age Around the World also edited by Mary Frosch and Faith Adiele, Christi Lefteri’s Songbirds and The Beekeeper of Aleppo, and The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah.  We are open for suggestions for our next Book Club meeting, which will be in December/January during the winter break.  Both tutors and students are welcome, but space is limited and is first come first serve. An announcement will be made in our upcoming class schedule for the winter semester. 

The post Book Club Summer 2025 appeared first on Literacy Council Frederick County.

Ralph DeRose is a partner in Oscar’s Alehouse, a group of restaurants in Maryland that has built its success by creating family-friendly spaces where customers enjoy “top-notch food and service,” he says. Another ingredient in the restaurants’ success, Ralph notes, is a policy of giving something back to patrons’ communities whenever possible. 

In the restaurant group’s way of thinking, finding ways to show support makes sense for local businesses. “Business owners should make this kind of engagement part of their marketing strategy,” Ralph says. Why put money into something like flyers, when you can put it back into the community? If you’re going to be part of a community, you must pay attention to it.” 

And Ralph is a guy who pays attention, most recently to a “community” of nine of his employees in the Oscar’s Alehouse West restaurant in Frederick. They have been showing up twice a week since January, an hour before the restaurant opens, to attend ESL (English as a Second Language classes) taught by tutors, as part of the Frederick County Literacy Council’s Workplace Literacy Program. 

The idea to start a program like this at Oscar’s West, was sparked during a conversation between Ralph and his partner one morning. “I was wondering about what we could do to help employees interested in improving their English-speaking skills [so they could relate better] with the culture outside the workplace. I thought how cool it would be to do something like this for our employees.” 

Ralph’s confidence in the importance of English literacy was influenced by the story of his Italy-born father’s immigration experience years ago. “My dad was living in the home of his father’s close friend,” Ralph recalls. And this man didn’t cut the young immigrant a lot slack. “Dad said he couldn’t get a glass of water unless he asked for it in English,” Ralph says. “He would drop dad off at night court after work” where he could absorb the language. “Dad was 17 years old and a pretty smart guy” Ralph says, but when he started to brag to the man about his fluency after a few months, he was told, “You are nothing in this country if you can’t also read or write English.” His father soon enrolled in English reading and writing classes and immersed himself in his new culture. And that, says Ralph, made all the difference. “My father attributed a lot of his success in this country to what this man had told him.” 

Ralph didn’t let go of that idea. He proposed that they offer interested employees “an English class on a Saturday morning and see if anybody would come. I thought of asking my daughter-in-law who teaches Spanish if she might be interested in helping. When I told my wife about the idea, she suggested that I might want to check with the Literacy Council.” He was familiar with the council after supporting one of their Scrabble Mania for Literacy fund-raising events. “I knew Sharon Jacko (a former president of the council’s board of directors) a little bit, and she told me that the council had a grant that funds a program that provides tutors for workplace ESL classes.” Ralph called Andrea Ormsby, Community Outreach Coordinator, “and we got the ball rolling after we learned that there was interest in it among some workers. So, one manager comes in an hour early on Monday to let in the students, and I do the same thing on Wednesday.”

Two 12-week classes are running right now: Beginning Literacy and Low Beginning levels. There are a total of nine employees between the two classes, which end in March. “We’ll celebrate when they finish this semester,” Ralph says. “The employees appreciate the classes and look forward” to learning for another semester. “It’s been a win-win situation,” he says. “I really think what the Literacy Council is doing [through the Workplace Literacy Program] is admirable. And their commitment is great.” 

The same could be said about Ralph DeRose. 

The post Oscar’s Alehouse Supports Local Workforce with Workplace Literacy Program appeared first on Literacy Council Frederick County.

On February 27th, I gathered with about 40 other members of the Frederick community to hear learners with the Literacy Council read aloud their stories, which had just been published in the 7th edition of the Reflections magazine.  

The stories we heard came from around the world. One told of a hard-working mother in Honduras who would get up at 4 a.m. to make breakfast for her children before going to school. Another described a Lebanese father who worked two jobs yet also had time to make breakfast for his children: a cup of milk, dates, nuts and a sandwich.  

Yet another story took us to Syria, where we watched villagers picking golden yellow figs to sell in the market.  

We were invited to dive into underwater caves bustling with marine life in Puerto Rico; learn how to make the popular southwest Chinese dish of Saozi noodles; and explore the benefits of spending time star gazing instead of staring at a cell phone.  

In all, seven writers shared their stories at the event, hosted at the C. Burr Artz Public Library. Through the power of storytelling, I found myself swept away into a rich array of experiences drawn from cultures different than my own. And I was able to understand these experiences because the students themselves had painstakingly translated their stories into an English I could understand – using their own words, their own voices.  

The presenters were each introduced by founding editor Catherine Coundjeris, who has been shepherding the Reflections magazine since 2017. They were a selection from the 30 students whose work is featured in this year’s edition of the magazine.  

Nataliia used her story to explain the reason she was in Frederick. She had come to visit her daughter for Christmas in 2021 and was suddenly unable to return to her native Ukraine when war broke out with Russia.    

“I consider myself lucky to find shelter in this wonderful country even though I worry about my relatives and my native country every day,” she read slowly but clearly from the podium. In the audience, her daughter Kateryna recorded the reading on her cell phone while her grand-daughter Mackenzie sat nearby.  

Mackenzie, who wore her hair in braids decorated with beautiful big red bows for the occasion, told me she had helped her grandmother practice her selection for weeks.   

Nataliia’s goal was simple: she wanted to be understood. Afterwards, she admitted she had felt nervous but said that sharing her story helped her feel better, even amid the pain she feels every day for her relatives in Ukraine.  

Some of the presenters stuck to a script and spoke in English like Nataliia, who has only recently started working with a Literacy Council tutor. Others had been taking classes at the Literacy Council for years and spoke more fluently. Some seemed nervous, and others more comfortable as they braved the spotlight and spoke in a language that was not their mother tongue. But all left the podium with big smiles, and a warm round of applause from the audience. Many also received hugs from teachers and fellow students.  

“Scripture says we are freed by the stories of others,” Literacy Council Executive Director, Denise Hill, told students when she took the podium after the last story was read. “Please know that you are a light to others as far as how they can proceed in the world.”  

In addition to family and Literacy Council volunteers and staff, members of the Frederick community were on hand to celebrate these writers.  

Marlene and Tom England, owners of the local bookstore The Curious Iguana, came to hand out gift cards to each of the presenters.  

“I’m happy to be here,” said Marlene. “How could you not be? The Literacy Council is phenomenal.” She said she’s looking forward to seeing the students at her bookstore. “I want these students to feel welcome in our community,” she added.  

When I spoke with Leshia Chandler, the deputy director of the division of family services for Frederick County, I discovered I wasn’t the only one struck by the supportive atmosphere we felt in the room. “This is amazing,” Leshia said with a big smile. “I’m so glad to see this.” 

It was true. You couldn’t miss it: the warmth, the excitement, the sense of a community coming together across languages and cultures was evident that night at the library. 

The post Voices of English Learners: Reflections on Language & Growth appeared first on Literacy Council Frederick County.

Hello! My name is Tetiana. 

I moved to the USA from Ukraine two and a half years ago. Naturally, like most people, I faced difficulties related to not knowing English. In Ukraine, I worked as a speech therapist, and speech has always been my strong point. Therefore, when I came to America, I felt like a person with disabilities. It is very scary when you do not understand people and cannot tell them anything yourself, but at the same time you have to solve very important everyday life problems. 

I have been learning English for two years now. And I want to share my experience with you. I want to note that I am lucky to live in Frederick, because it is here that there are many different, and most importantly – FREE opportunities to learn English. I began this difficult and long process at the Literacy Council of Frederick County. I am very grateful to the staff for their kindness, tolerance and professionalism, for the opportunity to choose the form, time, and method of my training. Here they helped me to get basic English skills, and most importantly – to gain a little confidence and believe in my abilities. 

And then I decided to take the second step – to study English at FCC (Adult Education). By this time I already had a job in a kindergarten, and I was glad that I had the opportunity to choose an online form of study in the evenings after work to study English: on Mondays and Wednesdays – a class at FCC, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays – a class at the Literacy Council of Frederick County. 

At the moment, I have a Reading and Grammar for Writing class in the Targeted ESL program (Frederick Community College). I also plan to begin training in March in a 90-hour child care certification program, which is organized by Frederick County Workforce Services in cooperation with Frederick Community College. 

I continue to move towards my dream – to be a speech therapist again, but here, in the United States. 

We at the Literacy Council of Frederick County are proud to support Tetiana and her dreams! One of her many accomplishments also includes her written contributions which begin on page 61 of our 6th edition Reflections magazine found here. Your financial support for this magazine enables more learners, like Tetiana, to continue to share their story and encourage others. Donate now via https://www.frederickliteracy.org/civicrm/?page=CiviCRM&q=civicrm/contribute/transact&reset=1&id=1 and indicate “Reflections magazine” in the comments box. 

The post Learner Success Story: Tetiana’s Journey to English Fluency appeared first on Literacy Council Frederick County.

Since JinJin, one of our writers in our Reflections magazine, started working with the Literacy Council, her journey has been “a series of beautiful moments” inspired by her children. This is how she describes it: 

From being shy and unsure of how to express myself to becoming fluent and confident, I take pride in the effort I’ve put in. From being a new mother struggling to handle my crying child, to now being a calm mother who helps them solve problems, my children and I have grown together. I still remember having no local friends after coming to the United States, but now I can gather and chat with friends, sharing moments of joy. Looking back at my six years in the U.S., I’ve gained personal growth and happiness. This experience will continue to shine brightly in my heart. 

JinJin’s first written piece in our magazine called, “I Miss You” was printed in the Council’s first Reflections magazine back in 2018. This magazine edition can be found here with her contribution on page 10. 

JinJin’s latest written piece, “My Two Lovely Girls” can be found here on page 31 of our 6th edition Reflections magazine. 

By financially supporting future Reflections magazines, you enable more writers, like JinJin, to share their stories and experiences with the world. Donate now via https://www.frederickliteracy.org/civicrm/?page=CiviCRM&q=civicrm/contribute/transact&reset=1&id=1 and indicate “Reflections magazine” in the comment box. 

The post Learner Spotlight: How JinJin is Advancing Through English Learning appeared first on Literacy Council Frederick County.

How very strange—and wonderful— it is to realize that, after working at something for most of your adult life, you still have the capacity to learn.  

I am someone who avoids too much introspection, but that changed when, after a long career as an editor and writer, I retired from the Smithsonian Institution. Anyone who has gone through that rite of passage knows that figuring out the “next steps” in one’s life isn’t always a piece of cake. I started to feel as if I were in danger of free fall if I didn’t start making myself useful again, and fast. I was starting to feel a little unmoored without any deadlines to regulate my daily life. Friends stopped giving me cruise brochures and suggested I put my editorial skills back to work, this time as a volunteer. After a few early and unsatisfying attempts, I learned about the Frederick Council Literacy Council, where I started contributing to the monthly newsletter, creating content as needed. 

I admired the council’s mission, to provide adults with “pathways to essential literacy skills,” tutoring English as Second Language learners in one-to-one sessions and classes, and through parent and workplace literacy programs. But it wasn’t until I started learning more about the council’s 60-plus years of outreach helping adults to achieve not only literacy goals, but also many life goals, that I recognized what a special place I had found. 

I read about volunteers who helped students learn English and guided them through rigors of American life, such as finding employment, filing tax returns, applying for mortgages, buying a car, dealing with financial issues, and, of course, becoming a U.S. citizen. I learned about friendships that lasted across generations. 

As I conducted interviews to “spotlight” tutors and students, I heard about the strong bonds that formed among them, even through the Covid pandemic era. Two stories come immediately to mind. The first was that of tutor Hilary and her student, Magda, a retired woman in her 70s who came to the U.S. from Venezuela several years ago. She was determined to learn English and live a meaningful life, and Hilary was the Literacy Council tutor assigned to help her achieve those goals, including preparing her for the U.S. citizenship test. Hilary proudly shared, “Magda passed the first time with a perfect score.” Then there was Ed, who clearly enjoyed the polyglot nature of his class, where the students he tutored became fast friends despite the language differences. He was “amazed” at the strength and resilience of his students who were simultaneously puzzling out the intricacies of living in a new community and learning a new language and culture. The most satisfying part for him of volunteering with the Literacy Council? The experience has helped him to better understand how people manage to live full lives with relatively little. For him, “The students are the teachers.” 

Those words were in my mind when I began helping with the editing and production of the Literacy Council’s annual literary magazine, Reflections: Voices of English Learners. I worked on the project with ESL coordinator Catherine Coundjeris, the editor of the publication, which features the students’ original stories and poems created in Catherine’s writing classes. A volunteer with the council since 2011, Catherine, who is a writer and poet as well as a teacher, had the idea to offer writing classes to ESL students, thinking that writing proficiency would also be a useful tool as they pursued their future goals. Then, she recalled, something unexpected happened: “I started getting these wonderful stories about their lives.” She believed the stories deserved to be told beyond the classroom, and a magazine would be the perfect showcase. Now, the seventh edition of Reflections: Voices of English Learners, will launch in February 2025. 

The moment I read the first manuscript I knew that I would be working with material that was in many instances unlike anything I had encountered before. The stories were written by students from more than 20 countries and were drawn from their personal experiences as well as their imaginations. Editing (aside from the obvious spelling and factual errors) was mostly guided by Catherine’s prime directive: “We lightly edit, maintaining the integrity of the individual voice…” 

Nevertheless, my first impulse was to rewrite almost everything, until I started to relate to the copy in a different way. It was as if I could insert myself into some of the stories. They took on a flow, and I went along for the ride. I was touched by the giddy enthusiasm invoked by one writer’s description of her debutante party 30 years ago in Brazil—and how the loss of a gift from her grandfather resonates with her still. I marveled at the arduous journey by rail taken by a group of pilgrims from Nepal to holy places in India, which included a description of cooking prasad (food prepared in earthen pots as a sacred offering to a deity) that was downright magical. I could almost hear the laughter of one Syrian family in the memory of a long-ago day spent gathering sweet figs. I felt my heart react to stories of almost unbearable losses—of cities, villages, homes, loved ones, personal identity. I was likewise heartened by the writers’ eclectic passions and stories about tremendous change and personal renaissance in a new world. 

I admit I was a little exhausted by the time the work on Reflections was done. Only one question remains: Catherine, when do we start work on the next edition? 

The post Life After Retirement: A Literacy Council Volunteer’s Perspective appeared first on Literacy Council Frederick County.

The Literacy Council is again honored to be one of 37 nonprofit organizations participating in the Unity Campaign for Frederick County, hosted by United Way of Frederick County. The Unity Campaign supports the over one in three households in Frederick County that struggle to afford basic human necessities! The campaign is focused on funding programs directly supporting the health, education, and financial stability of ALICE (Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed) households. Together, we can make a huge difference!

To donate online to the Literacy Council, please visit our Unity Campaign page. Or download the Mail-in Donation Form to send a check. You may also donate by texting UnityFC25211 to 71777.

The majority of fundraising will take place  beginning on March 5th and continuing through March 19th.  The campaign is currently accepting donations!  Please consider donating by designating the Literacy Council of Frederick County or by supporting the campaign as a whole.  Matching funds will provide more bang for your donated bucks!

The Unity Campaign is a collaborative project between nonprofit partners, sponsors, and the greater Frederick community to support our most vulnerable neighbors by giving to a nonprofit organization of your choice. Through the generosity of our Incentive Match sponsors, 100% of your contribution goes directly to the designated Nonprofit. In addition, your individual gift is boosted because a portion of your donation is matched by the sponsors.

Thanks to our media partners:

• Manning Media
• Frederick News Post
• Frederick Lifestyle

The Unity Campaign provides an efficient community-wide platform to increase awareness and raise much needed funds to support our tutoring, community classes, workplace and parent literacy programs.

Literacy is the basis for success in all other areas of life. It enables people to gain better employment to provide food, clothing, shelter and health care for themselves and their families.  And the children of literate parents are much more likely to succeed in school.

The 2018 Frederick Community Assessment Report conducted by the Frederick County Community Foundation identified several common stressors that negatively impacted the well-being of families.  These include financial hardship, housing and food instabilty.

ity, health issues and lack of affordable childcare. Limited literacy compounds each of these stressors, erecting a barrier that severely limits the financial options of a family. While these are multifaceted and complex issues, adult literacy is the one factor that can have a positive impact across the board.

Visit Unity Campaign  to learn more about the campaign.

The post Support Literacy in Frederick County: 2025 Unity Campaign appeared first on Literacy Council Frederick County.