TRL Foundation Lights the Way for Adult Learners
A good education lights the way to a bright future, but a beam of light can break and a young person's star remain earthbound.
Adult education and literacy programs ignite ever-new hope and the Timberland Regional Library Foundation, with the generous financial backing of groups such as Twin Harbors Literacy, is focusing on special-needs programs like Timberland's "Read. Succeed." Adult Basic Education [ABE] collection and services.
The
Twin Harbors Literacy group presented the TRL Foundation with a check to be used
for literacy enhancement in Grays Harbor. The county's libraries have affirmed a
great demand for basic reading, spelling, grammar, math, and citizenship
materials, which TRL is now purchasing with that generous and empowering gift.
Grays Harbor resident Brenda Wentworth knows all about how bright hopes for an education can flicker, then dim, and how costly that can be. She has also experienced the rekindling of her dreams.
Wentworth loves to learn, so she had high educational expectations. But sixteen years and not-quite-a-high-school diploma found her in a career as a printer, with a husband and two children, in a home in Seattle-satisfying achievements, until events narrowed choices.
The family home was destroyed by fire. A crisis in the timber industry followed hard on the heels of the family's relocation to Grays Harbor. Then, being short of a diploma equaled a shortage of job options.
When local and county retraining and literacy programs presented opportunities, Wentworth took up the offers, starting with New Chance for displaced workers and the Grays Harbor College Literacy Project. Commuting to classes daily for two years, she juggled school, family, home, and work to earn her Associate's Degree.
Now, coming full-circle, Wentworth shines her light for adults who are starting anew as she did. She is a full-time tutor for adult learners. Describing her students as highly motivated, she says, "I never met people who wanted to learn so badly." Her dream is to continue her education and become a full-fledged teacher of adults.
An ongoing challenge is finding reading materials and information for students who start from a wide range of language proficiency and come from diverse backgrounds. That challenge is directly addressed by Timberland's "Read. Succeed." Adult Basic Education program identified in library buildings by the logo of a rising star.
Timberland libraries, including Wentworth's hometown library at Aberdeen, are
strengthening their ABE collections for adults who are strengthening their
reading and employment skills or learning English as a second language.
Materials include books, cassette/book kits, and CD-ROM computer software on
reading, math, spelling, GED and other self-help topics. TRL's
homepage at links students with education sites on the Internet.
All 27 Timberland facilities provide information connecting adults to basic education organizations and 20 libraries have meeting rooms where tutors and students can work together.Wentworth appreciates and utilizes Timberland's resources and services. She finds the library user-friendly and regularly locates material to help her students, such as "the perfect" item for her eighty-year-old beginning-computer student. She brings her students on field trips to the Aberdeen library to orient them to ABE services and materials.
Role models like Brenda Wentworth and partners like Timberland Regional Library, literacy groups, and the TRL Foundation illuminate ways for adults who want to take up their stars and send them skyward.
by Leanne Ingle
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Thelma Kruse, Library Director
How can the Foundation help the libraries in the Timberland District serve people better? In a few words: help us provide more books, more computers, and more equipment to keep up with the ever-increasing demand.
More people than ever are using the Timberland libraries. Small libraries such as Ilwaco strive to respond to a 177% increase in computer session signups-with only one public computer available. Last year 200,000 more people visited the six largest libraries than in 1998. Eight new book discussion groups were organized and 1500 more adults attended library programs than the year before.
We are trying hard as well to reach those people who are unable to come to the library or who are not aware of the services the library provides. With many children of working families cared for in daycares and after school programs, Timberland has been reaching out with "Connect Boxes" and outreach programs and story times. We need laptop computers for programs and offsite checkout, boxes of paperback books for neighborhood center circulation and book collections specially selected to place in Native American Tribal centers.
Timberland staff has to constantly make choices. Should we open more hours in a remote library or purchase more books? Do we respond to the demands for more computer stations in the libraries or provide service to people in nursing homes or children in daycare centers?
These choices are becoming more difficult every year for Timberland as a tax-supported institution. Your contribution to the TRLF can make a tremendous difference in the level of service that Timberland is able to provide to all people in the District.
| Library Trivia!
1. What Timberland Library began in 1890 with 150 donated books housed in the Oddfellows Hall? 2. Name the Washington State Foundation that has given major gifts to several Timberland Libraries. 3. What Library was constructed in 1913 on land donated by George Washington, a homesteader and a former slave, with a $15,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie and $314.00 from the Ladies of the Round Table? 4. What Timberland Library has a town square clock with a time capsule buried beneath it? 5. What Timberland Library reached its 1.7 acre site by barge in 1996? 6. What Timberland Friends group purchased the land for the Library and donated the bronze statue of "How I Wonder" by Brenda Maltz? 7. Name two major Timberland library donors, one who supported Library buildings and the other who supported "Libraries Online." [Answers on page 2]
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| The Timberland Regional Library is a
501[c][3] charitable organization. All donations are tax deductible.
Please make your check payable to the
Timberland Regional Library Foundation If you have any questions, please contact our Development Office at [360] 704-4565 or e-mail: trlf@timberland.lib.wa.us
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Janelle Williams, TRLF President Libraries are an American value. In communities across America they provide free people with the resources they need to read, learn and connect to the full spectrum of ideas and information." Ann Symons, President, American Library Association 1998-1999 The Timberland Regional Library Foundation was incorporated in 1998 and began active work in the community. The Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors representing the five counties, Grays Harbor County, Lewis County, Mason County, Pacific County, and Thurston County, served by Timberland Regional Library, composed of library patrons, Friends members and TRL trustees. The goal of the Foundation is to provide financial support for TRL activities. Funds for the Foundation will be raised through grants, corporate and private donations, as well as annual fundraising events. As we approach the year 2000, all communities will face increasingly difficult challenges with limited resources and increased demands. Libraries can only do so much without additional financial assistance and support from the communities. As the TRL Foundation continues to grow it will make significant contributions to the quality of library services for TRL. The Board of Directors has obtained the 501[c][3] charitable organization ruling for tax-deductible contributions. Preparations for our first events, Chocolate Sundays in September are well underway. We are also preparing information packets to be distributed to estate planners and researching grant opportunities. Much work is ahead. The Board of Directors are both optimistic and energetic, but we also need your help. We need volunteers to help staff the Chocolate Sundays. We need you to help financially. We also need to have you consider how you can help financially as well as telling others of our Foundation. This is the first issue of our newsletter, and you will be hearing about us in other formats as we launch our activities. The most important aspect of the Foundation is the trust that we must ensure to our contributors. When you donate to the Foundation, we accept many responsibilities to you. We agree that we will manage the money properly and keep good reports. We also will help sustain a long-term relationship with you or your family, depending on your wishes. We want to make sure you believe you have made a good investment in the Foundation, the Timberland Regional Library system and in your communities.
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TRLF
Mission Statement
To promote Timberland Regional Library and its communities and to support the activities of Timberland Regional Library in its efforts to advance intellectual curiosity, promote lifelong learning and enrich environments in which minds can grow. The Timberland Regional Library Foundation, a tax exempt, 501[c][3] nonprofit organization, provides financial support for the mission of the Timberland Regional Library system. It was established in 1998 in the belief that financial support from individuals, corporations, organizations and foundations is needed to ensure an excellent library system in the future. In 1998, Timberland Regional Library handled over 200,000 visits each month at its 27 locations, circulated more than 4 million items, and attracted nearly 37,000 adults and children to its programs and tours. In addition, nearly 50,000 people attended outreach programs and 100,000 signed up for computer time. While property tax dollars makes most of this possible, the Library depends on additional support to create and expand its programs so necessary to our growing communities. As competition for government funds grows, tax revenue alone will not meet our communities' needs for the materials, information and resources an excellent library can and should provide. |
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Thanks
to TRLF Board Members!
Many thanks to all our dedicated volunteers who make the Timberland Regional Library Foundation possible. The TRLF board is composed of library partrons, Friends members and TRL trustees. At left is a photo of many of our board members, representing the five counties served by the Timberland Regional Library.
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row, from the left: Michael Petra [Lewis], Debby Day [Lewis],
Martin Reynoso, Treasurer [Thurston], Marilyn Johnston [Mason], John
Inverso, Vice-President [Thurston] Standing from the left: Bim Miles [Thurston], Arlene Gardner [Thurston Friends], Jim Burri [Thurston], Janelle Williams, President [Lewis], Elizabeth Thompson [Lewis], Shirley Watts [Lewis Friends], Helen Hepp, Secretary [Grays Harbor Friends] Members not shown: Jane Gruver [Mason Friends], Lynne Glore [Grays Harbor], Robert O'Neill [Lewis], Jean Shaudys [Pacific] |
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| Make the Rounds to
"Friendly" Book Sales
As non-profit support groups, Timberland Regional Library Friends groups work locally with their hometown library staffs to promote the goals, objectives, services, and resources offered by TRL within the communities. Among their many activities, book sales are popular, often tying in with local celebrations and fun events. Start your engines and zip over to several of these book sales. Most take place at the libraries. Two take place at other locations and these are noted in the list of sales. In addition, many Friends groups frequently sponsor shelves or carts of used books for sale. Among them are the Friends of the Aberdeen, Centralia, Hoquiam, Montesano, Naselle, North Mason, Tumwater, William G. Reed [Shelton] and Winlock Timberland libraries. Please contact your local Timberland library for more information about the Friends of the Library and their activities in your area. |
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| Library
Trivia! Answers
[Questions on page 4] 1. Aberdeen 2. E. K. Lillian F. Bishop Foundation 3. Centralia 4. Tumwater 5. Hoodsport 6. North Mason 7. Andrew Carnegie and Bill Gates
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Our Thanks to These Sponsors!
American Family Vision Clinic American Family Vision Clinic will match the first $10 of your $10 or more donation to the TRL Foundation if you purchase an eye exam and glasses or lens between September 1, 1999 and September 1, 2000. Your donation receipt from the TRL Foundation is required as proof of donation. Petra Insurance Agency, Inc. Hemphill-O'Neill Company |