Continued … Newsletter Date

VOCAL NEWS L i t e r a c y V o l u n t e e r s o f I l l i n o i s

J a n u a r y 2 0 1 5 M a k i n g A D i f f e r e n c e ~ M a k i n g A C h a n g e

Welcome to 2015! “Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?” While this quote may not be one of the more widely known or oft-repeated of Dr. King, it epitomizes the spirit

with which Congress created the MLK National Day of Service back in 1994 and the spirit with which our members approached the day as you will see in the articles they’ve written about their activities. With a near 100% member participation rate and three service and three educational projects, this was one of our finest Days On. Thank you to everyone who took part in these activities and a special thank you the members who led them – Julius Bell, Chelsea Davis and Wendy Huang for the service projects and Etta LaFlora, Pete Liebenow, Theresa Urfer, and Pat Wright for educational programs at the Illinois Youth Centers. You can read more about the service projects in this edition of VOCAL News; the IYC projects will be featured in our next edition.

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Martin Luther King Jr., Service Day Projects

Lincoln Park Community Shelter (Cont’d page…) Ronald McDonald House Lurie Children’s Hospital (Cont’d page…) Ronald McDonald House Loyola Medical Center (Cont’d page…)

Martin Luther King Jr.Martin Luther King Jr.Martin Luther King Jr. Service Day ProjectsService Day ProjectsService Day Projects

Lincoln Park Community Shelter

(See page…5)

Ronald McDonald House Lurie Children’s Hospital

(See page…6)

Ronald McDonald House Loyola Medical Center

(See page…6)

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Continued …

LVI STAFF Dorothy M. Miaso Executive Director

Chamala Travis Program Coordinator VOCAL AmeriCorps

Melissa Auer Program Coordinator IYC-St. Charles

Julie Copher Program Coordinator IYC-Harrisburg

Debra Sundberg Program Coordinator IYC-Kewanee

AMERICORPS MEMBERS

Wendy Huang Literacy Volunteers of Illinois

Pat Wright IYC-Harrisburg

Peter Liebenow IYC-St. Charles

Betsy Ingersoll

IYC-St. Charles

Teresa Urfer

IYC-St Charles

Etta LaFlora IYC-Kewanee

BOARD MEMBERS Alex Crevi President John McLeod Treasurer Blake Dunphy Carol Morris Madison Palmer Don Singer Maria Thiel Diana Turowski

NEWSLETTER Wendy Huang Editor

Literacy Volunteers of Illinois

30 East Adams, Suite 600 Chicago, IL 60603 P: 312.857.1582 F: 312.587.1586

lvillinois.org info@lvillinois.org

So, with our first big project of 2015 behind us, we turn our attention to the next two projects before us – Na-tional AmeriCorps Week and the Annual On the Road to Literacy Conference and Awards Presentation. Created by the Corporation for National and Communi-ty Service in 2007, the goal of National AmeriCorps Week is two-fold: 1.) Connect AmeriCorps members and alums with each other so they feel they are a part of a nationwide effort; and, 2.) Communicate Ameri-Corps’ powerful impact on critical problems and on the lives of its members and alums. The 2015 theme of Na-tional AmeriCorps Week, which is March 9th - 17th has not yet been finalized, but we eagerly await final word. LVI will celebrate the week by sponsoring our 8th annual Volunteer Information and Recruitment Fair on Mon-day, March 9th at the James R. Thompson Center in downtown Chicago. This will be an opportunity for members and host sites to distribute information on services offered and recruit additional volunteers for your tutor ranks. Other AmeriCorps programs will also be participating in the day’s activities, and we’ll be in-vited to participate in some of their activities as well. Stay tuned more information will be coming your way. Just one month after National AmeriCorps Week is our 24th Annual On the Road to Literacy Conference slated for Saturday, April 18th. The conference will feature 24 workshops on a wide variety of topics along with a clos-ing awards presentation that recognizes the fine work of our volunteer tutors. We hope that you each of you will nominate at least one of your tutors for this special recognition, as they may well be selected as the 2015 Tutor of the Year! Everyone should have already re-ceived nomination forms in the mail; additional ones are available on our web site. A shout out and thank you to members Chelsea Davis, Wendy Huang, and Yoselyn Ovalle and former members Josh Anderson (’07), Lindsay Crammond (’06), Tanika Richardson (‘13 & ‘14) and Melanie Wagner (’13) for serving on this year’s conference’s Planning Committee. Enjoy what is starting out to be a very snowy February!

7th Annual Volunteer

Information and

Recruitment Fair

2013

Tutor of the Year Award

2014

Sunshine Community Education Forum held in KewaneeSunshine Community Education Forum held in Kewanee

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The Sunshine Community Services Center, a nonprofit organization in Kewanee, Illinois, hosted their 4th Annual Community Forum on Education Development at the Black Hawk College Community Edu-cation Center on December 17, 2014. Invited were federal, state and local dignitaries, agency and business leaders and concerned area citizens to discuss what, as a whole, we can do to improve the educational outcomes for students in our schools. The theme for this year’s forum was Educational Solutions to Help Our Schools, and the utilization of AmeriCorps members was offered as a viable solution. Scott McFarland, executive director of the Serve Illinois Commission, along with Dorothy Miaso, executive director of LVI, discussed how using AmeriCorps members can provide agencies with the help needed to make a transformational impact in our schools, programs and services. Others attending and speaking at the event were Bruce Tossell, Mayor of Kewanee; Lucie VanHecke, Constituent Advocate for Congresswoman Cheri Bustos; Dr. Chris Sullens and Jason Anderson, superintendent and principal of Kewanee Schools; Shane Kazubowski and Jeremiah Johnston, superintendent and principal of Wethersfield Schools and David Harris, Coordinator of Black Hawk Community College Outreach Center. Numerous community agencies were also present, including the Kewanee Area United Way, YMCA, Housing Authority of Henry County and Henry County Youth Services Bureau.

Etta La Flora, Executive Director of Sunshine Community Services Center and AmeriCorps member, IYC—Kewanee

AmeriCorps members Chelsea and Pete were gift wrapping on Christmas Eve.

Gift Wrapping at Barnes & NobleGift Wrapping at Barnes & Noble

Overall, our group had some incredible young artists. We’ve been asked to create a mural on the school campus, and completion is coming along at a fast pace thanks to our enthused artists. Thanks to IYC being incredibly supportive of us, we’re very proud to show our artwork to the community. Happy Festivus, Happy New Year and let’s all keep LVI going strong!

Pete Liebenow, Jump Start at IYC—St. Charles

More importantly were the conversations that told who we are to the customers asking about the work we do. On my part, I explained what Jump Start – IYC is and talked about my work. Most people were very open-minded, and I was happy to open their eyes to the youth we serve and the necessity of the work I’m thrilled to be a part of.

Every youth I work with is a very different individual. I see that even as we’re just getting to know each other while they are checking books out from the Jump Start library. I see potential, goals and aspirations in each one. It was during a few of those Creative Arts Group. Our group collected an array of newcomer artists and talented people who had a natural, fine-tuned affinity for the arts.

I’ve been working at the Illinois Youth Center (I.Y.C.) at St. Charles, IL as an AmeriCorps member with the Jump Start Program for over four months now. This past Christmas Eve, I had the pleasure of being a part of the LVI’s Gift Wrapping Fundraiser at Barnes & Noble on North State Street in Chica-go.

Barnes & Noble was a madhouse of last minute holiday shoppers from the moment I walked in. Right away it was a non-stop, gift after gift, wrapping frenzy. There were plenty of generous dona-tions and praises for the work we did. The conversations I had with customers while wrapping were the best part. As I was wrapping my first gift, I cracked a joke that December 23rd had been Festivus. “Festivus for the Rest of Us,” is a fondly remembered quote from the television sitcom, Seinfeld. The customer had burst out laughing, sharing our love of the show, as did other customers waiting in line. Also, Chamala refused to send Dorothy a picture I found online via my iPhone of a horribly wrapped torn up, tattered and duct-taped gift, to show her an update of how we were doing. I thought it was pretty funny.

AmeriCorps members volunteered for different shifts for gift wrapping on Dec 15th, Dec 19th and Dec 24th.

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Christmas Spirits Soaring at the IYCs

YOU’VE GOT TALENT! AT IYC-KEWANEES

On December 16th, a talent competition and play show-cased the various abilities of the gifted young men who re-side at IYC-Kewanee. The first act was a juggler who not only juggled several balls in mid-air, but also used the wall as a prop for his perfor-mance. Next, a young rapper expressed his appreciation and love for his mother in a song entitled, “Beautiful Queen,” that told of how much stress and hardships she endured trying to keep him on the straight path. The third act, “Bomb and Love,” compared a young man’s deep affection for a woman to a powerful bomb that was ready to explode. Fi-nally, a poem called “Wrong Life,” wrapped up the talent show by reciting how certain paths or choices undertaken can lead to a life of trouble, crime and incarceration. Next up was the play “12 Angry Men” by Reginald Rose. IDJJ Chief Legal Counsel Beth Compton was the honored guest at the show. She witnessed the hard work of Dr. Victor Kersey, Assistant Superintendent for Programs, who was the Play Director, Counselor Nik Kuster who was the Stage Props Manager and John Downey, School Principal, who was the Costumes Manager. Sixteen residents performed the various roles from judge, jury foreman, juror, and guard to stage hand. For one and a half hours, they kept the audience rivet-ed. Like the teleplay and two movies of the same name that fol-lowed, the residents portrayed jurors representing various socio-economic classes in American society with attitudes that ranged from being tranquilly stubborn to verbally explo-sive. Although jury deliberations started with one voting not guilty, in the end—after many heated arguments, much swearing and in-your-face disagreements—the voting jurors reversed to twelve voting “not guilty.” The lone juror that held out at the beginning with a calm demeanor had patient-ly persuaded the other jurors, one by one, that there was reasonable doubt as to whether the son killed his father with a knife. Thanks to IYC Kewanee administration, staff and residents for a wonderful performance.

Etta LaFlora, IYC-Jumpstart Kewanee

GIFTWRAPPING AT ST. CHARLES The library at the Illinois Youth Center in St. Charles was transformed into a gift wrapping extravaganza the Monday and Tuesday before Christmas. Administrators, teachers, counselors, LVI staff and a select number of students volunteered to become Santa’s Help-ers. It was an effort that saw to having each of the 300 boys residing at the center receive something special for Christ-mas. For the gift wrapping, long tables were set up and stacked with big boxes of gifts provided by the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice and area churches. Eight selected youth worked very hard to carry boxes from “Santa’s Special Stor-age Room” to the library. Beautifully colored wrapping paper were cut at two sta-tions. There were three large tables where helpers made sure that the packages, filled to the brim with goodies, were wrapped to Santa’s standards. In an assembly line fashion, the helpers added the wrapped gifts at their station to big brown paper bags, while melodies of Christmas music, pro-vided by Jump Start Coordinator Melissa Auer, played in everyone’s ears. The boys received winter hats, gloves, socks, long under-wear, sweat suits, specially scented body wash and comic books. But knowing how teen boys love to eat, the snacks that consisted of cheese crackers, chocolate M&M’s, Snick-ers bars, big bags of chips and packages of donuts were probably the most prized items. On Christmas Day, Superintendent Bargar and Clinical Ad-ministrator Rothwell delivered each package to the youth. All of us who take part in their rehabilitation want them to know how much we care and that we wished them a Merry Christmas!

Teresa Urfer, IYC – Jump Start at St. Charles

Serving Beyond the Greater Good

Dr. King's Birthday: it’s a day for reflection and service for all. MLK Day, for me, is a day where I can give back and show that everybody from all races, nationalities, social and economic classes and religious backgrounds can come together for a common good and help their fellow man. On this day, I led a team in preparing and serving breakfast at the Lincoln Park Communi-ty Shelter. My role as team leader was to set the menu, assign roles, purchase groceries, help prepare the food and make sure things went well. But you're only as good as the team you lead, and I had an awesome team backing me up. My team consisted of Jason Kaiser, Yoselyn Ovalle, Catherine Pumphrey and Katherine Maranzana. We all had differ-ent roles. I was making the French toast, Jason was frying the bacon, Katherine was scrambling the eggs, Yoselyn was cooking the sausage and Catherine was cutting the fruit. As a group, we were on fire and had everything under control and on track. As a group leader, I feel like this project was a very good project to. My final advice as a group leader for this project would be to have fun and always plan ahead.

Julius Bell, Literacy Volunteers of Western Cook County

The Lincoln Park Community Shelter (LPCS) is a comprehensive social service agency serving adult men and women who are experiencing homelessness. Located in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood, the LPCS has been providing shelter and other basic needs to our homeless neighbors for 28 years. Today, the LPCS provides interim housing, meals, and a targeted array of social services to over 300 people each year.

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Saturday, April 18, 2015

9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

University of Illinois Chicago

Center for Literacy-Lower Level

1040 W Harrison

Chicago, IL 60607

24th Annual Tutor & Adult Learner Conference

Nominate Your Tutor for Tutor of the Year. Do you know a tutor who has an incredible work ethic, who gives their all and earns the respect of everyone in the room? Show your appreciation by nominating them for the On the Road Tutor of the Year Award. Winners will be recognized in ceremony, and will receive a plaque and gift. The nominating agency will receive a $100 donation in the tutor’s name and $100 gift certificate for New Readers Press. Nomination forms and letters are available online at lvillinois.org. Last day to submit your nominations is on March, 31, 2015

Join our event on Facebook for updates

Serving the Ronald McDonald Houses

At Near Loyola Medical Center

It was an unexpected morning when Dorothy came up to me two weeks before MLK Day and asked if I would like to lead what would be our third service project. And though I was a little daunted by the big task, I decided to take it as a chal-lenge. As leader, there were many things to consider–such as plan-ning the menu, creating a budget, coordinating the com-mute to and from the site, assigning roles to my teammates and making sure everyone was on the same page and that they knew what they were doing. The first thing that greeted us upon our arrival was a spa-cious room with four kitchen spaces. We quickly designated our corner and got to work. Dorothy immediately set the ham into the oven, as it took the longest to cook. Mean-while, Sophie started on the mashed potatoes, and thanks to a willing bunch of potato peelers –Sybil, John and Marcelo– five pounds of potatoes were peeled in a jiffy. Dave and I worked on the broccoli-rice casserole, and on the other side, Marcelo dished the Italian meatballs and sauce into a crock-pot for heating. As we were nearing dinner time, Sybil put the salad bar together, Jonah whipped the potatoes and John cooked the butter corn. By 5:30, everything was done and set up and shortly after families started to trickle in, some shared their story with us as they enjoyed the meal. We wrapped up the day with a group discussion about how our day related to Dr. King’s vision of service with several of us noting that it was an ex-perience that we would not have thought to try if it weren’t for this opportunity.

Wendy Huang, LVI

The mission of the Ronald McDonald House is to care for families of children with complex medical needs by providing–in most cases–free room and board. There are five Ronald McDonald Houses in the Chicago-area, and all are funded entirely by donations from corporate sponsors and members of the local community. In order to provide meals for the families, the Ronald McDonald House relies on the help of volunteers to purchase and serve food for its residents. For MLK Day, LVI provided lunch and dinner at two different houses.

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At Near Lurie Children’s Hospital A team of nine led by AmeriCorps member Chelsea Dennis and Program Coordinator Chamala Travis—planned, pre-pared and served a home-cooked lunch to families staying at the RMH near Lurie Children’s Hospital. As soon as we arrived everyone got to work making the menu for the afternoon which included a hearty minestrone soup, a bed of spinach and arugula salad, fresh deli sand-wiches and delicious chocolate chip cookies to top it off! The Ronald McDonald House has a state-of-the-art kitchen which helped make the process run smoothly. When the residents arrived for lunch, they were amazed at the op-tions available. Many parents expressed their gratitude to us for taking the time to prepare a meal for them. The feed-back was positive with many commenting on how great the minestrone soup was. At the end of lunch, we made sure to pack the left-overs for families to eat at a later time. Our master chefs included AmeriCorps VOCAL members Martha Ochoa-Nebolsky, Yasser Salim, Kaly Van Horn, Kathryn Waldron and three community volunteers Blake Dunphy, Marla Jackson and Malcolm Joseph. We wrapped up the afternoon by reflecting on how the joys of our ser-vice to families was connected to Martin Luther King Jr.’s idea of service. For instance, many members noted how meaningful it was to them to see the look of glee in the fac-es of children at the sight of chocolate chip cookies or simp-ly conversing with some of the parents staying at the facili-ty. All our members left the event inspired by how little acts of kindness can mean the world to others.

Chelsea Dennis, Albany Park Community Center

Member Spotlight: Instituto del Progresso Latino Dave Anians is an English instructor and tutor at Instituto del Progreso Latino. Just a year ago,

Dave was a Spanish-illiterate rookie teacher, but is now teaching his own classes and is using Spanish to help students understand basic English rules and concepts.

Dave saw AmeriCorps as an opportunity to start his career in nonprofit work. Last month, he offi-

cially renewed for another year because he learned that his role had helped him gain more hands on experience in teaching and speaking Spanish, and that it had helped make him a more confident and

competent person.

“Every day, I learn more about teaching, the nonprofit world, and my personal strengths and weaknesses,” he says, “I have met many great teachers, tutors, and students, and found a challenging but comfortable atmosphere to work and learn in. I am in-

spired by the staff here and the work they do to provide people with a community of education.”

IDPL is an educational organization whose mission is to contribute to the fullest development of Latino immigrants and their families through education, training and employment. DPL offers a continuum of adult education services from learning how to read in Spanish up to the GED. ABE and pre-GED classes are also offered, as is English literacy for students with less than a 6th grade education in their first language.

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Marcelo Isais is in his second year as a Pathway to Citizenship Teacher. Last month, he renewed

his year with AmeriCorps because he really enjoyed his experience working at IPDL.

Because Marcelo had been both an ESL student and a teaching assistant and tutor at an afterschool program, Marcelo says that he understands firsthand the difference literacy can make in one’s life. “I

feel proud to help my community and my hope is one day [my students] will help their communities as well,” he says.

At IPDL, Marcelo prepares his students to take their citizenship tests and also helps with ESL tutor-

ing and elementary education literacy in Spanish. Marcelo claims that one of the perks of teaching at IPDL is the never ending buffet of food. “Mmm, tamales!”

Through a variety of services offered at Mercy Housing, resi-dents have opportunities to gain the skills they need to change their lives and improve their communities. Resident services include after-school and summer programs for youth, GED and English courses, financial education programs, health classes, health care services for seniors and more.

Mercy Housing

Sybil Morrison is a new AmeriCorps member and a tutor at Mercy Housing. Prior to Ameri-

Corps, Sybil was an Adult Education educator in ABE, ASE, Life Skills, Basic and Computer Lit-eracy.

Sybil came to hear about AmeriCorps through a friend who used to a part of AmeriCorps a

few years ago. It was the details and descriptions of AmeriCorps members’ work ethic and emphasis on the rewarding experience that pushed her to join AmeriCorps. Sybil strongly val-

ues the spirit of volunteerism and vows to serve by helping learners who are seeking to im-prove their reading and math skills.

Welcome aboard, Sybil!

LVI’s Social Networks

www.Twitter.com/LVIllinois

All our photos can be found on

Facebook, so remember to “Like” us

when you visit www.Facebook.com.

Links to both social media are also on the

LVI homepage.

Upcoming Dates

Friday, February 6, 2015 9:00 am—4:30 pm

Creative Writing, Immigration Discussion, Language and Literacy Leadership Series Workshop

Ralph Metcalfe Building Room 326

Monday, February 16, 2015 President’s Day (Office Closed)

Fun Facts

January is named after the two-faced Roman god, Janus, the god of doors because this month is the door to the year. The Roman god Janus represents all beginnings and possesses the ability to see all things past and future.

Middle English - Januarie

Latin name - Ianuarius

French - Janvier

Saxon - Wulf-monath - wolf month

TimeandDate.com

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Chicago Restaurant Week January 30 - Feb. 12, 2015

Participating Chicago Restaurants Get a special deal on a fixed-price lunch or dinner at 250

restaurants during Chicago Restaurant Week. View the list of participating restaurants at:

http://www.choosechicago.com/things-to-do/dining/chicago-restaurant-week/

Chicago Theater Week February 12 - 22, 2015

At Participating Chicago Locations Choose from more than 100 plays at affordable prices dur-

ing Chicago Theater Week. Visit the list of theaters at: http://www.choosechicago.com/things-to-do/arts-culture-

and-entertainment/chicago-theatre-week/

Folk Music Festival February 13 - 15, 2015

University of Chicago at Mandel Hall, 1131 E 57th St.

Celebrate traditional music from around the world in concerts and workshops

TUTOR TIPS Teaching adult learners may seem like a daunting task, but here are some tips to keep in mind when helping them learn.

Adults perceive themselves to be doers—not just sitting in a room and listening to lessons. Active participation by including their broad life experiences and applying it to their lessons can helpfully engage them in the material.

Adults are usually concerned about the effective use of their time because their readiness to learn is more direct-ly linked to their roles as workers, spouses, parents. Tu-tors can match their level by connecting lessons with their immediate applicability. Say, learning to write a check.

In some cases, adult learners are less likely to accept new information. Try going over the same lesson by adapting a different technique. For example, one can follow up a formal lesson by playing a game based off that lesson.

Adults are more often internally motivated by potential feelings of self-worth, self-esteem, and achievement. Unfortunately, due to unpleasant past formal learning experiences, adults develop learned helplessness. It is therefore important to let adults learners set realistic and achievable goals to keep their learning spirits high.

Fun Things To Do