Burb's Eye View: Reading, writing and the literary spiritBurbank Leader: 4.16.2013 by Bryan Mahoney
Helen Lopez could get the words out. However, when it came time to deliver a speech, the president of Burbank Kiwanis’ Aktion Club had trouble lifting them off the page.
That all changed this past December, when an appointment with the Burbank City Library’s literacy program began helping Lopez raise her reading level and her spirits.
“Now, I read all kinds of stuff,” said Lopez, 66. “(The program) has helped me read better, and I enjoy it.”
Lopez and more than 2,000 others have learned to read through the city’s literacy program. Since 1992, it has provided free one-on-one tutoring to adults who speak and understand English, but read and write below an eighth-grade level.
Next week, you have the opportunity to help them help people read. A spelling bee is replacing the program’s annual trivia bee. It will be where the bulk of the program’s annual budget for supplies and administration will be raised.
The event, coupled with a silent auction, will take place at 6:30 p.m. on April 25. in St. Leon Armenian Cathedral’s Ritz Banquet Hall, 3325 N. Glenoaks Blvd.
Tickets are $25 in advance at the library, $30 at the door. Teams of three can still register for $250 by calling the library’s literacy services at 818-238-5577. While most of the participants will probably be adults, students in the sixth grade and above can also enter.
This year’s keynote speech will be delivered by Lopez. She will represent not only one of the program’s success stories but the Aktion Club — a service group for adults with developmental disabilities. READ MORE !
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