12th Annual Family Picnic and Appreciation Celebration

The Friends of READ/Orange County hosted an old fashioned family picnic on September 9 at Centennial Park in Tustin. READ/OC tutors, learners, volunteers and their families, along with the friends, staff and community partners enjoyed hamburgers, hot dogs, tug-o-war, a pie-eating contest, prizes, gifts and awards. READ/OC learners and tutors were honored for their commitments to learning, leadership and literacy with certificates from the Orange County Board of Supervisors and award plaques presented by Orange County Librarian, John Adams, and Literacy Programs Administrator, Marcia Tungate. Special recognitions were made for Melodie Chen, K.C. Kuo, and Hun Lien Lau who participated in the Henry Huffman Leadership Institute. Volunteers Ivan Velev and Nasrin Yazdanian were also honored for their consistent commitment to learning. The Diplomat Award was presented to Jay Ortloff for promoting literacy throughout Orange County through newspaper articles, interviews and videos. The Barbara Noll Memorial Award was presented to Sandra Hague, who has provided ongoing administrative support since 2004. The Lifelong Learner Award was presented to and re-named this year in honor of Antonio (Tone) Correa, who has been a tutor with READ/OC for 10 years. Tone, who is 98 years young, has decided to retire from tutoring in order to finish writing two books. Much appreciation is given to the Friends of READ/Orange County, its' Recognition Activities Committee, and many volunteers for planning and hosting such a wonderful celebration of literacy.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

Congratulations to READ/OC's Hun Lien Lau. She has been selected as California Literacy's Student Writing Contest Winner for 2006 in the ESL Category (English as a Second Language). Hun Lien will be a guest for lunch at California Literacy Writer's Luncheon to be held on Saturday, October 21 at 12:15 PM at the Pasadena Hilton where she will be recognized for her achievements. Read her letter.

READ/OC recognized 40 tutors and learners at this year's Annual Family Picnic and Appreciation Celebration for completing 100 hours or more of work with the program. Each received a red READ/OC polo shirt as an award. How did they do it? It's simple.

Tutors and learners made commitments to work together on goals. The tutors then recorded time invested in monthly reports and turned the reports in on the 5th of each month. READ/OC used information from the monthly reports, to track the hours of hard work and accomplishments, and recognize their many hours of work at the picnic.

Remember to complete and turn in your monthly report, so your learner and you can be recognized for all of your efforts!

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS

READ/OC's Muna Tadmury has been working with tutor, Sandy Hague, since March, 2004. In that time, Muna has accomplished much in her personal life. She has become a U.S. citizen, has voted, and she and her husband have purchased a home. She has moved from a job as a seamstress to one where she writes a weekly newspaper column and teaches classes to Arabic-speaking women on such subjects as child care and coping with various agency forms and procedures. And, just last month, she finished all twelve steps of the Wilson system, a project that took nearly two years! Congratulations, Muna!

He got the job! Lee McClendon's learner worked diligently to read and understand information that would help him pass a test to get a new job. His hard work paid off.

Congratulations to Alan and D. for completing 500 hours of instruction.

Kristin De Guzman's learner read a Nancy Drew book to completion.

Shari's learner, R.B., has read his first book, "Five People You Meet in Heaven". He also completed Wilson step #2 and is now moving onto step #3.

Sharon Flynn's learner received a library card.

Share your READ/OC success. Include your learner's accomplishments in your Monthly Reports.

MORE READ/OC PROGRAM NEWS

READ/Orange County tutors love to learn and have a good time. They proved that on September 23rd when they gathered for an In-service at the Irvine-Heritage Park Regional Library and were asked to play "The Tutor is Right." The fifteen READ/OC tutors present, some who just completed their training, were asked by READ/OC's Training Team to "Come on Down!", were asked questions related to their tutoring and techniques taught during their training, and aspects of the program. Everyone was given the opportunity to win a great prize - a car, a motorcycle, a plane, a house, a gourmet meal, and more. Participants felt like big winners even though each prize was a toy. The tutors got into the spirit of the game, supported one another, reviewed important information, and had a great time.

Attention All Tutors
Please be on the look out for the Roles & Goals survey being sent to you soon. You and your learner complete this report twice a year, and it is the perfect opportunity to evaluate your learner's progress towards his/her written goals. It is very important that we get a survey from every tutor and learner pair. Please help us receive 100% of the surveys mailed. Thank you for your help on this.

Library Closed
All Orange County Public Library Branches will be closed Monday, October 9 in observance of the Columbus Day holiday.

HELP WANTED
The place is a-buzzzzzzz! And... we're looking for worker bees! Make a beeline to READ/OC Headquarters to hear how you can get in on this honey of a party. Bee there at our next Trivia Bee General Committee meeting on Wednesday, October 18 at 6:30 PM and hear how you can help. We need your creativity, your muscles, your contacts, and your good wishes. We can't do this without you.

Quarterly Tutor Meetings

Quarterly Tutor Meetings will be held in November at the:
El Toro Library                    Tuesday, November 14 from 6-8 PM
READ/OC HQ                 Wednesday, November 15 from 6-8 PM
Anaheim-Haskett Library                Thurs., Nov.16 from 6-8 PM.

Save the Date
The Southern California Library Literacy Network (SCLLN) Conference for tutors and learners will be held on February 24, 2007 at Cal State LA.

Wrapping Up
Join the READ Team as we play our own very popular game show, "The Tutor is Right", on Saturday, September 23 from 9 AM -12 PM at Irvine Heritage Park library. There will be Fun, Prizes, and Tutoring Tips. This will count toward your two required In-Services.

Smile.
My first job was working in the woods as a lumberjack, but I just couldn't hack it, so they gave me the axe. After that, I tried to be a tailor, but I just wasn't suited for it; mainly, because it was a so-so job.  

Tell us what you think.
READ/OC values your opinion. Please e-mail your comments, thoughts and opinions about this Newsletter to readoc@readoc.org.