Santa Maria Library - Central Coast Literacy Council celebrating 25 years of dedication

Central Coast Literacy Council celebrating 25 years of dedication
Santa Maria Times: 10.19.08 by Shirley Contreras

The history of the Central Coast Literacy Council goes back to the late 1960s, when Dr. Frank C. Laubach, founder of Laubach Literacy, spoke at Santa Maria's First Methodist Church.

Some time later, after a tutor training course was taught in the area, a group of tutors was organized at St. Andrew Methodist Church, with Polly Bendle serving as leader. The students were Vietnamese families who had come as refugees and had sponsors in the local area. After Ms. Bendle passed away in 1979, the organized group was disbanded.


Enthusiastically gathering up her tutoring materials, Dona Marie began telephoning offices of California Literacy Inc., which at that time was located in Alhambra. The San Luis Obispo Literacy Council was also generous with information and material.

The local literacy program began in November 1982, when Dona Marie, with helpers Doris Pine, Irene Schmitt, Ione Gustafson and Claire Magee began tutoring in the Community Service Center in Guadalupe

In January 2007, the Santa Maria City Library and the Central Coast Literacy Council joined in partnership. Such an agreement permits the council to offer its services in the library itself. The council now has an office and at least two study rooms for tutoring in the new library building.

I first became involved with the Literacy Council when I began teaching a class at the Community Center in Guadalupe on behalf of the Altrusa Club. Although I only taught for a few years, I can still recognize the need for such classes.

I'll never forget the testimony of one man who told about being afraid to order breakfast in a restaurant, because he could not read the menu. When he'd see the waitresses bringing scrumptious looking meals to other patrons, since he couldn't read English, he could only look with longing. However, he knew “ham and eggs” and that was his standing order. This went on for many years, until he finally enrolled in the literacy program. When he received his first certificate, the audience roared with appreciation when he told of the liberation he felt when he was finally able to read and write English, “if only to be able to finally order something other than ham and eggs!”

The Central Coast Literacy Council will celebrate its 25th anniversary Oct. 25 in Santa Maria with a “mystery dinner” held at the Shepard Room in the new and beautiful Santa Maria Library.

For information regarding the Literary Council, call Isa Ponce-Jimenez, PH D., executive director, at 925-0951, Ext. 836. READ MORE