We’ve all talked about Good Karma, but there are some organizations like the Literacy Volunteers of Lee County (239)242-4374, which teaches English to adults, and whose mission almost always generates it. Thought you’d enjoy this story. If you would enjoy helping someone learn English give them a call. You don’t need to know another language. Our own Bob3 is currently tutoring a group that speaks Polish, Arabic, and Russian. Previous students have also spoken Spanish, Hungarian, German and Korean. All have been adults, the majority with college or advanced degrees. This was written by LVLC’s program director.

A few months ago, a tutor called me with concerns about her student, a married, middle-aged man who never learned to read or write. The tutor said she was about ready to move on to another student because she didn’t think she was really helping him or making progress. She thought that she might be the problem and that perhaps another tutor could do more for him.

I agreed to call the student’s home. His wife answered. I told her I was calling to find out how the tutoring was going from his standpoint. She said that her husband thought the tutor was doing a great job and often talked about how happy he was with her.

She said that over the (2007) Christmas holiday, their entire family got together. As his Christmas gift, her husband wrote a Christmas letter and gave it to his mother. He also read it aloud for the entire family to hear. It was the first time his mother had ever heard him read. She said it was the best gift she had ever received.

The wife sounded like she was going to burst with happiness. She said that his tutor was helping so much and has changed her husband’s life tremendously!

When I called the tutor back with my report, she said that she only wished she had known sooner because she had no idea she was affecting the student’s life in any significant way.

The moral of this story? We may never know how significant donations of time and expertise are to our students, often because they cannot yet find the words to tell you how the gift of literacy has changed not only his/her life, but the impact on the rest of the family. When you’re wondering if tutoring makes a difference, or pondering how you might do more for your fellow man, remember this story.

Literacy Volunteers of Lee County