DEWEY’S PIZZA SCHOOL

The Dewey’s Pizza School on April 8 at the

Clifton Dewey’s raised $2,000 for literacy

programs! We had a fun day making

pizzas for a great cause.

Check out more details here.

SPELLING BEE FOR LITERACY

The 27th Annual Spelling Bee for Literacy

took place on April 19 at the Holy Grail

Banks. Congratulations to Elder High

School on their first place win and to

Seton High School for coming in second

and winning the most spirited award!

Read more here.

BOOKS, BOOKS AND MORE BOOKS!

April was a busy month for book pickups! We collected

over 12,000 books this past month to distribute to

students! Book drives were held at: All Saints School,

Our Lady of the Visitation and Madeira High School.

Special thanks to Pi Beta Phi at the University of

Cincinnati for donating over 700 brand new books to

LNGC! Lastly, thanks to Fifth Third Bank for collecting

1,200 books across 13 Fifth Third branches!

SUBARU SHARE THE LOVE EVENT

We recently participated in the Subaru “Share the

Love” event. “Share the Love” allows car buyers to

choose a charity to donate $250 from their new car

purchase. We were chosen as the lucky recipients by

Busam Subaru and ended up making $18,400!

View the story here.

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BONNIE PETER & DONNA ELSEN Bonnie Peter and Donna Elsen team teach

one of the Literacy Network’s Adult Basic

Reading classes. These classes are for

adults that read at or below a fourth

grade reading level. Both Bonnie and

Donna are retired teachers– Bonnie was a

fourth grade teacher and Donna was a

high school teacher. They met last year

and have found that they have similar

interests, ideas and teaching styles. Their

decision to "team teach" has made the

class more exciting- for them as well as

their students. They truly feel that they get

more than they give while working with

the adults. Their motto has always been

that "You learn to read by reading!”

Q1: Describe an experience with a student

that really stands out or inspired you.

Bonnie: Often our adult students want to

improve their reading in order to help their

children. Once a mother found a book

about the U.S. Presidents that she could

share with her young son. What a proud

moment for her!

Donna: To settle on a few - the student

who learned how to write her own grocery

list; the young mothers that are in our class

in order to help their own children

become strong readers; the students who

want to increase their reading skills in order

to pass the test for citizenship.

These students teach me more than I can

ever hope to teach them. I am inspired by

their courage and dedication.

Q2: Why do you think this type of work is

so important?

B: It's hard to imagine navigating the

world without reading skills! Literacy

training is important for both survival and

enjoyment.

D: When a person can read, there are so

many more resources available for their

learning to grow. I am grateful to be given

this opportunity to open, what had been,

a closed door.

Q3: What do you hope your ultimate

impact is?

B: I've always believed that you can learn

something new every day. I hope that the

adult students see, that as teachers, we

are always learning, too. We all make

mistakes, laugh about it and go on.

Learning should be fun.

D: Learning never ends, no one knows

everything. And the best way to learn to

read is by reading.

To volunteer as a tutor or teacher at

the Literacy Network, click here.