August has kept us busy planning our Barnes & Noble Book Fair on September 15th.  We will be celebrating National Literacy Week as well as our Literacy Council's 35th anniversary, and hope you will all join us for a day of fun and fund raising!  Five local authors have agreed to host book signings throughout the store on Saturday, and we will be giving away prizes every hour from local merchants.  Please plan on stopping by to show support for AACLC, and read below for further exciting details!

In Other News, 

Anne Arundel County will be issuing a Proclamation, declaring September 8th as International Literacy Day, and will "pay a particular and public tribute to the efforts of the Anne Arundel County Literacy Council, to commend the 35 years of selfless endeavors of its members and sponsoring groups and to make known the splendid service it offers to improving adult literacy in our community".  We have trained thousands of volunteers to become literacy tutors since AACLC began in 1977, and have improved the lives of well over a thousand students and their families during that time as well.  We have so much to celebrate!

Sincerely,

programdirector@aaclc.org 

On November 4th, 2008, Ulysees Martin voted for the first time in his life. Ulysees was 57 years old, and had never been a registered voter. If you cannot read, you are often excluded from many of the things people who read take for granted. Registering to vote became a part of our reading lessons, and getting that first Voter Registration Card a mark of special achievement. Voting in the election itself became the next great mountain waiting to be climbed and conquered. 

 Ulysees and I have been student and tutor partners for the past several years. While Ulysees's reading skills have grown much since he made the decision to learn to read, nothing has so signified how much he has progressed as voting in his first presidential election. With that single act, he crossed over barriers, both real and imagined, and signaled to himself and the world around him that he had achieved something important, something long hoped for, something precious that he earned for himself and no one could take from him. 

Afterwards, Ulysees told me, "We did it, our vote counted!" I still think it remarkable that in that moment he did not say, "My vote counted.", but "Our vote counted." I believe at some level, that remark revealed a deeper, more fundamental connection to a community that he has often viewed from afar. In registering to vote and voting, Ulysees closed that gap and rightfully took a place in his community that he had long hoped for. 

Please click here to read the entire story of Stan and Ulysees. 

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