Let’s Celebrate Women’s History Month!
From the Director’s Corner
Dear Friends,
Happy March! This month we are celebrating Women’s History, National Reading Month, and Dr. Seuss’s Birthday (March 2). What a great way to celebrate March. We hope you learn about the impact women have made in history. Please share what you have learned.
We also hope you celebrate National Reading Month. Reading is so important and we would love to hear from you about the books you are reading or want to read. This edition of the newsletter includes a piece by Ms. Carla Taylor. She is on the Palmetto Literacy Board of Directors and is our Training Coordinator. Many of our volunteers have met Carla during their Volunteer Orientation and Training. We hope you enjoy her piece.
Have a happy spring…remember this is the month when we get covered in green pollen. It only lasts a few weeks and then on with the beautiful sunshine.
Tutors—you know how we feel about your awesome work. We’re going to tell you again. You are amazing!! Your students love you and don’t want to miss tutoring. That says a lot about all of the hard work you are doing and the giving of your time. We are always grateful for you.
We would like to commend our tutor Bonnie who is working with two students who have graduated from Grade 1 to Grade 2. Congratulations Addie and Jasmine!
If you would like to share a story about your success with your student, please contact Patricia D’Ascoli at [email protected]. We love to hear your stories!
Please wear your mask, stay healthy and safe.
Dodi Hodges, Ph.D.
Executive Director
How You Can Support PLC
Individual membership: $25/year (Pays for materials for one student)
Business membership: $50/year (Pays for materials for two students)
Your business card will be featured in the newsletter and on our website Donate through palmettoliteracycouncil.org
Volunteer News
Tutor Volunteers
- 18 Active Tutors (2 are tutoring 2 students)
- 2 Volunteers who need a student
- 4 Volunteers waiting for a student pairing
Administrative Volunteers
- 1 Volunteer Recruiting Adult Students
- 2 Volunteers helping with Grant-Writing
- 2 Volunteers helping with LACES (database to track students, tutors, and volunteers)
- 5 Volunteers on the Board of Directors
- 1 Volunteer on BOD and Executive Director
- 1 CCU Student Intern/Volunteer
We can use volunteers in the office, as there are plenty of books to be put together. If you have some time to help out with putting together books, contact Dodi.
Libraries
Chapin Library is open and you can reserve a room. They take your temperature and name as you walk in.
Horry County Libraries are available in 1-hour increments. You must wear a mask, clean your hands, and wipe tables to help out.
Zoom Social
Hey Volunteers! I hear that you are wanting to get to know each other. I’ve heard from a few of you that March 16, 2021 would be a good day for a Zoom call. Some of you work and others have students and other fun activities.
So, we’ll have the Zoom Social Meeting on Tuesday, March 16, 2021, at 6 pm. Have on hand your dinner and/or a glass of ???.
Once the pandemic is under control, we can get together as a group someplace. In the meantime, we would love to give you a space to meet each other. You can set up times from there to meet for coffee/tea or take a walk with masks.
Contact [email protected] and tell me that you are interested in attending the Zoom Social in March. I’ll send you the Zoom link.
6th Grade Reading
We have a couple of students who are ready to graduate from Grade 5 Reading Programs! The tutors and students want to continue and Grade 6 seems reasonable to complete. This is very exciting and we want to encourage all of our students to move up and move on! Students are finished with our program after they have completed Grade 6. They can now read the newspaper and most books. We are so proud of them!
Carla Taylor – On Reading
I love to read for pleasure. This past year has provided me time to reflect on how reading brings me joy and keeps me sane. Reading provides me an escape when I can’t physically go anywhere. It allows me to be a part of conversations and experiences that would normally be outside my accessibility. This is especially true considering the genre of literature that I have immersed myself in for the last several years. I’ve become a huge fan of Young Adult (YA) Fantasy Fiction. It began randomly.
Kindle suggested a book that was highly rated, so I decided to give it a chance. The book was called The Queen’s Poisoner (Kingfountain Book 1), by Jeff Wheeler. Once I began reading it, I couldn’t put it down. A story about a young boy in a make-believe kingdom during a time long ago, had me on the edge of my seat, while solidifying Jeff Wheeler as one of my all-time favorite authors.
I love to read for pleasure. This past year has provided me time to reflect on how reading brings me joy and keeps me sane. Reading provides me an escape when I can’t physically go anywhere. It allows me to be a part of conversations and experiences that would normally be outside my accessibility. This is especially true considering the genre of literature that I have immersed myself in for the last several years. I’ve become a huge fan of Young Adult (YA) Fantasy Fiction. It began randomly. Kindle suggested a book that was highly rated, so I decided to give it a chance. The book was called The Queen’s Poisoner (Kingfountain Book 1), by Jeff Wheeler. Once I began reading it, I couldn’t put it down. A story about a young boy in a make-believe kingdom during a time long ago, had me on the edge of my seat, while solidifying Jeff Wheeler as one of my all-time favorite authors.
The Queen’s Poisoner book 1 of 6, is about a young boy who is held hostage by an evil monarch in a King Arthur like setting. He finds an unlikely ally in a young woman, who is known as the Queen’s Poisoner; she has been trained in the art of espionage so she can be a spy/ assassin for the monarchy. Her unique skills are enhanced by the “Fountain.” To be “Fountain Blessed” is to be connected to a supernatural source of power. (While reading about the “Fountain”, I made the connection between it and the “Force” from Star Wars.) It is up to the individual to determine if this power is used for good or evil. The friendship that develops between the two not only helps the boy survive his situation, but it helps him grow into a man whose actions save the entire kingdom from the darkness of the evil king. As the boy grows into a man, he finds love. This part of the story kept me on the edge of my seat because it was hard to predict just how things would turn out. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that if you read this book, you will want to read the other five in the series because the storytelling is so compelling and you will quickly grow attached to the characters and sincerely care how their stories end.
Jeff Wheeler’s biography on Amazon.com says that he is a “Wall Street Journal bestselling author who took an early retirement from his career at Intel in 2014 to write full-time.” I am very glad he made the career change. As a full-time author, Mr. Wheeler has continued to pub- lish series of YA books that are full of adventure, sword fighting, and romance. The common char- acteristics found in all his stories are that the characters are multi-generational, his stories borrow from historical events and there is always a reference to a higher power that inspires the hero/heroine to stay faithful throughout their adversity.
I started with the Kingfountain Series, but there are many others that I highly recommend: Legends of Muirwood, The Covenant of Muir- wood, Whispers from Mirrowen, The Harbinger Series, The Grave Kingdom Series and his latest one, The First Argentines. If you decide to check out Jeff Wheeler’s books, I would love to know what you think.
Meet Board Member: Stephanie Southworth
Retirement has allowed Phyllis to share her love of reading and her interest in literacy in a number of ways. Before tutoring for PLC, Phyllis and Carl volunteered as “Reading Buddies” at Myrtle Beach Elementary School. When this program was put on hold, Phyllis sought other opportunities and discovered PLC at the Volunteer Fair held at Carolina Forest Library last year.
There are opportunities to do good in the world all around us. All we need to do is make our- selves available. And PLC Board member Stephanie Southworth is the kind of person who seeks such opportunities. Stephanie, who is a senior lecturer of sociology at Coastal Carolina University, has been working actively to help those less fortunate in the greater Myrtle Beach community. Her two interest areas are education and poverty.
“A lot of my work is with the homeless people and I am on the Board of Faith Outreach Ministries,” she said. Because of Covid, however, much of the out-reach she did with the homeless slowed down. She wanted to fill her free time with something else that would help others.
When she learned about PLC’s need for volunteers, Stephanie agreed to sit on the Board. She recently helped out with the November golf tournament fundraiser and also oversaw the Giving Tuesday event. She is happy to help out in any capacity.
Stephanie believes it is important to give back to the community, and PLC fits this model because the organization is working to improve literacy in Horry County. As an educator, Stephanie under- stands the disparities in the educational opportunities and supports PLC’s efforts to address these disparities by tutoring children and adults who struggle with reading and writing.
“I really believe in PLC’s mission. It is a wonderful philanthropic effort,” Stephanie said.
One of Stephanie’s other outreach efforts in the community is The Rolling Forward Project. This is a bike-share program that provides the use of bicycles for the men’s homeless shelter and also to a transitional housing unit for veterans. For the past two years, the project has facilitated transportation for many individuals.
“They check bikes out and return them at the end of the day,” Stephanie said. Bikes are often used for getting to and from job inter- views.
For the past five years, Stephanie has lived in Myrtle Beach, although she grew up in California. Prior to CCU, Stephanie taught at Clemson University. Covid has presented many challenges in teaching, Stephanie said. Of the five courses she teaches, some are online, while others are on the ground.
Stephanie believes that students need to be in the classroom because they do much better in that environment. She is passionate about being an educator and looks forward to being able to teach all of her classes on campus again.
Tutors in Action
Tutor Volunteers
Addie Milz “Graduated” to the next level with the help of tutor Bonnie Kelley. 
Tutor Maria Stensrud with student Luna Cupertino and her mother Fabiola Wormsbecker
Orientation & Training
Carla Taylor, our Training Coordinator, will conduct our next Volunteer Orientation and Training on March 18, 2021 at 6:00 PM online through the Zoom application.
As of March 1, 2021 we have 20 students who are paired with tutors – 4 adults, 16 children.
There are 6 students on the waitlist; 3 of these students may have a tutor paired with them this coming week. And we have 2 potential students.
We have two students coming from Longs and Loris, and one from N. Myrtle Beach. We’ll be looking for more students and volunteers in that area soon!
This means we need more tutors to volunteer, just to keep up with the current number. Students are getting reports back and schools have been notified that we are open. Please encourage your friends to volunteer!
North Myrtle Beach Volunteer Fair TUESDAY APRIL 20, 2021
We have registered for the North Myrtle Beach Volunteer Fair on Tuesday, April 20, 2021. It is being held in the North Myrtle Beach Farmer’s Market Pavilion (925 1st Ave S, North Myrtle Beach). Masks will be required.
We’re looking for some folks to help Dodi at the Fair.
Set-up time is 2:00 to 3:30pm Fair is 4:00 to 7:00pm Teardown is 7:00 to 8:00pm
Please contact Dodi to let her know when you can help her out, during Set- up (probably will only take about 30 minutes), the fair, or Teardown (should take less than 30 minutes).
Thank you!
Want to learn more?
Check out our math, reading and writing strategies in our newsletter.
MISSION STATEMENT
To improve the literacy of youth and adults in our community by teaching/tutoring basic literacy skills for those who struggle with reading, writing and/or math.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CHAIR: Dodi Hodges: [email protected]
VICE CHAIR: Shawna Roessler [email protected]
TREASURER: Maria Denney [email protected]
SECRETARY: Preston McKever-Floyd [email protected]
MEMBERS AT LARGE:
FUNDRAISING CO-CHAIRS: Patricia D’Ascoli [email protected], Stephanie Southworth [email protected]
TRAINING COORDINATOR: Carla Taylor [email protected]
MAILING ADDRESS: 1229 38TH Avenue North, #130 Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
PHYSICAL ADDRESS: 1010 5th Avenue North Ext., Suite 101I Surfside Beach, SC 29575
FOR INFORMATION OR QUESTIONS:
OFFICE PHONE: 843-945-9278
OFFICE EMAIL: [email protected]
WEBSITE: www.palmettoliteracy.org
