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Corner Brook - In the fall of 1997, in an effort to meet the need for basic literacy skills in the Corner Brook area, meetings were held with provincial Laubach Literacy Field worker, Isabella Fry, and the president of the Humber Literacy Council, Bessie Merrigan. Both indicated a need for such services on a full time basis in this area. At that time, there was no facility in Corner Brook that offered a full time daycare adult literacy program. At present the Learning Centre, situated in a central downtown location on Main Street, has the only such program, serving students from Corner Brook and both the North Shore and the South Shore of the Bay of Islands. The Learning Centre opened it's doors in February of 1998. There are currently 10 adults attending programs at the Centre. They access the services of a part-time instructor, Jane Broadbent, and three volunteers who come in when their schedules allow. The Centre has proven to be of great benefit to the students. They not only get individualized instruction in reading, writing skills, science, math, and basic computer skills, but they also receive the encouragement and support of their fellow students. Literacy students, or "learners" as they are called, are a determined bunch. Once they put their minds to improving their reading and writing skills there is no stopping them! Some of the people in the Learning Centre hitchhike from the North Shore every morning, rain or shine. One of them travels 120 kilometers a day and another over 60 kilometers a day. And it's not only about classroom work. In the past two months alone, one of the students, Jean Blackwood, has had a story published nationally, and another student, Bud Murrin, has won the Co-operators Learner Achievement Award for Newfoundland and Labrador, and a Canada Post Literacy Award! In the past year, the students at the centre have volunteered in the community, toured various businesses, taken in museum tours and environmental tours, written their driver's test, compiled resumes, made cold calls to employers, attended conferences, and had their pictures on the front page of the newspaper! The major partners in the Learning Centre include: the Humber Literacy Coucil, which does an excellent job of training and matching volunteer tutors, and providing books and other resources to the Centre; Laubach Literacy of Canada, through their fieldworker for Newfoundland and Labrador, Isabella Fry, who provides training, expertise, materials, and hours of patient listening; and the Newfoundland and Labrador Literacy Development Council, who have provided the Centre with a computer system, funding for getting the Centre up and running, and an endless amount of invaluable advice. As of September, through a Community Service Council grant, the students are "surfing the Net" and looking forward to setting up a Learning Centre homepage! Look for us in the coming months on the World Wide Web! Write us at: P.O. Box 961, Corner Brook, NF A2H 6J3 |
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