Audrey's face lit up. "My experience here has been just wonderful," she said. "I used to be a teacher in a small area - the children would grumble and call me 'Old Lady Peterson' - but here it's different. I was afraid at first because these people were adults; I thought they were going to look me over and be even more critical than the children. But they weren't. And the compliments - they are just like balm from heaven."

Bob told us that he wrote a paper years ago with the theory that most volunteers are actually very selfish people. "They go into volunteer situations with the plan to get something out of it," Bob explained, "whether it's personal satisfaction or the free t-shirt with the neat logo on it. I still believe that to be true, although I don't consciously think of it that way. But dammit, I do get a good feeling when we've covered a really tough piece of ground. I can say, 'Yeah, I was part of that.' That's what keeps me going."

We talked about the Peter Gwwski Golf Tournament, increased public awareness of literacy and the media's current interest in student "success stories". I asked Bob how he would define success. "The student who is sitting across from me learning to read is a success, simply because he has survived," Bob said emphatically, wanting to dispel the notion that passing Grade levels is the only measure of success. "Now, because of some glitch in the student's life, he has decided to improve himself, to go back to school. Just his being on the other side of the table from me is success."

Audrey was equally emphatic. "The student I am working with now is very successful. She emigrated from England, she's a successful mother and housekeeper and she has a job she likes. Her literacy skills aren't the best but she is not a failure."

Bob and Audrey obviously believe strongly in what they say. Maybe we do volunteer for selfish reasons, but is that wrong when everyone benefits so much? Many people question whether or not literacy programs should use volunteers to teach people to read. I have questions too, but when I talk to people like Bob and Audrey, I think how lucky we are in this field (and how lucky the students are) to have such dedicated, caring people to offer their help. Would I feel as grateful to Murray if I had paid him for all my golf lessons? It wasn't just his time I appreciated; it was his enthusiasm. No amount of money could have bought that.

I thanked Bob and Audrey for volunteering their time to talk to mc. It was time for me to head over to the hotel to get ready for the reception for the PGI Tournament. As we were packing up, Bob told me about an experience he had a while ago with his student. Bob had thought the student had misspelled a word all through a story he had written. He instructed the student to erase and correct the word. Later, Bob double-checked the spelling of the word in a dictionary and discovered that he had been wrong. "I got a heavy dose of humility on that one!" Bob laughed.

Robin asked him which word it was and he sighed and said, "I will go to my grave never being sure how to spell the word 'their'."

"Oh, that's an easy one to remember Bob," Robin said. "It's just the word THE with an IR on the end."

Bob looked incredulous. "That's so simple!" he said. He was delighted with Robin's spelling trick and left saying, "It's been a pleasure talking with you Deborah but learning how to tackle that word has really made this morning worth while!"