January 2009 - News

Would you like to teach adults in Charles County to read, write, do basic math, learn English as a Second Language or provide help teaching English to speakers of other languages? We are changing lives for the better. Help continue to make Charles County all it can be. We just concluded our Spring volunteer tutor workshop. We will conduct another tutor training workshop in October 2009 (dates have not been finalized, yet.) Once dates are set, you may register online or email at charlescountyliteracy@comcast.net; For further information, contact Marlene Cleaveland at the CCLC office at 301-870-5974.

December 2008 - News

We concluded our Border's gift-wrapping fund-raising event on December 19. We collected almost $500 in donations. The event was organized again by our wonderful Vice President, Jack Faherty.  Special thanks to Sonja Scharles, Darlene Adams, Edna Troiano, Michael Ellis, Nicole (Coley) Bennett, Susan Brewer, Dee Crowell, Marcel Jewel and Jacinta McDonald. Everyone had a wonderful time and proudly wore our new blue CCLC t-shirts. Thanks also to everyone who stopped by to say hello or have a gift wrapped.

November 2008 - CFC Charity Kickoff Event at U.S. Census Bureau, Suitland, MD

John (Jack) Faherty, Vice President of the Literacy Council and Marlene Cleaveland, Program Coordinator participated in the recent Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) Charity Event at the Census Bureau. This was a wonderful opportunity for broad public exposure to our organization and how we greatly benefit the community. We were able to talk to many people during Census' busy lunch time about the Literacy Council and hand out CCLC pens, brochures and other literature to raise awareness of donations to the CFC Campaign this year. (If you wish to make a donation to the CFC campaign, the Literacy Council's CFC # is 77322). Many thanks to our President Sonja Scharles and Jeanette Madison, our publicity chair, for developing the display board we used here and will use at future events, as well as Darlene Adams, Treasurer for ordering our new pens, bookmarks and carry bags. Thank you again to all our Board and volunteer tutors for everything you do to make this organization strong and to enable us to continue our mission to help needy citizens in Charles County learn to read and to perform basic math skills.

For Next Volunteer Tutor Training Workshop, go to the Council's Events page.

November 2008 - News

Thank you to all of you who contributed during our Fall Fundraising Letter mail-out.  We appreciate all of you and could not continue without support from the local community.  Our annual Border's gift-wrapping fundraiser will be held on Thursday, December 11, 2008 from 4:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., Monday, December 15,  from 4:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. and Friday, December 19 from 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. at Border's in Waldorf, MD.  We will have a table set up at the entrance in Borders with our Literacy Council banner attached.  Borders will supply all wrapping materials.  We will wrap gifts for customers for donations and will include a CCLC bookmark in all books we wrap.  All active and inactive tutors and volunteers are welcome to join us.  Email Marlene Cleaveland at charlescountyliteracy@comcast.net if you are interested in helping.  This is a fun event!

October 2008 - News

Congratulations to our October 2008 Volunteer Tutor Training Graduates! To read the article click here. We just completed our Fall Volunteer Tutor workshop chaired by Nicole Bennett. It was very successful and everyone had a good time. We have 13 new tutors and are busily matching them with students. We always need new tutors. Visit our Events page to learn of upcoming tutor training.

August 2008 - News

We had a very successful Summer Retreat on August 9, 2008. Thanks to our wonderful Board Secretary and Chair Student Assessor Edna Troiano and her husband Pete for hosting this event!

July 2008 - News

The Charles County Literacy Council, as well as several local organizations and schools were awarded grants by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation on July 15, 2008. The checks were presented at the Bryans Road Dollar General by Jackson Routh, the Corporate Community Initiatives Administrator out of Tennessee on behalf of the Bryans Road Dollar General, managed by Mr. Bill Black.

It was so exciting to be a part of this! Sonja Scharles, our President, was there to accept the check and Jack Faherty, our VP and Marlene Cleaveland, Program Coordinator, were there as well.

To provide a bit of history on Dollar General, the store was founded by a young man (J.L. Turner) who lost his father at a very early age and had to drop out of school to help work at home with the family. He could not read or write but went on to develop these stores. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan honored Dollar General for its literacy program and in 1993, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation was established. Dollar General strongly supports literacy. In fact, the Bryans Road Dollar General is the #1 store out of 8200 stores nationwide to collect the largest amount of money (collected through coin cans at their stores) which is then distributed to organizations promoting literacy for children and adults. Last year, his store (#2696) collected $31,211,86. As Mr. Routh pointed out today, every penny that is collected counts and that is why they did not round off the total figure.

We are very honored to have been selected this year to receive a grant in the amount of $5,000.

We encourage you to shop at the Bryan's Road Dollar General (located in the same shopping center as Safeway) off Route 210 in Indian Head Maryland. And while you're there, take the time to thank Mr. Bill Black for all he and his store employees do to help promote literacy.

Pictured in the photo- holding the check (Left, Marlene Cleaveland, Program Coordinator, Center, John Faherty, Vice President and Sonja Scharles, President. Store employees from left to right: Joan Griffith, Renate Carr, Brenda Tippett, Bill Black, Store Manager, Irvin Nore and Holly Dyson.)