My work with Sonia has again been diverted a bit by some more important immediate issues (nothing critical, just time-sensitive) so I’m writing today to follow up on the Literacy for Life fundraising event I attended Friday night. I wrote about this event last Monday, but I want to catch you up on how things went.
In summary, it was a wonderful evening. The program had raised over $99,000 even before the event began, through ticket sales, advertising, and donations. The Live Auction raised an additional $55,000. By any account, this was a success for the program. The main event space at the Alumni House is perfect for an occasion like this – spacious without being cavernous.
The most moving part of the evening were the videos featuring several of the learners – an African-American woman who had never achieved functional literacy because of family hardships, an Afghani refugee doctor who had earned his pharmacy license, a woman from Central America (I didn’t catch her country of origin) who had become a medical assistant, and a Honduran woman who had come to the US as an asylum seeker, knowing no English, who passed the ASVAB and joined the US Army. These people told their stories in English that was sometimes halting but always clear. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. To cap it off, several of the learners featured in the video were at the event, sitting at a table in the front with the tutors who had helped them achieve their goals.
It was inspiring. I always come away from these events thinking that I want to drop everything else I’m involved in and just volunteer more for Literacy for Live.
But there was another good thing that happened last night. I met Kelsey – a local immigration lawyer who is eager to help me help Sonia solve some of her problems, many of which are associated with her unsettled immigration status. Sonia and I will be calling her this week; I hope that once Sonia is able to address some of these issues, we’ll be able to get back to improving her English language oral and written fluency.
Excellent, especially about Kelsey. There are no coincidences. 😎
Sounds great! Way to go!