Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Approximately 14 percent of the people in Kosciusko County cannot read or write.
"Believe it or not, there are illiterate people in Warsaw," said Kathy Hamman, of Kosciusko Literacy Services, at the Ramada Thursday.
As one of the programs to combat illiteracy in this area, KLS helps employers with workplace literacy classes, Hamman said. She cited Warsaw Coil as one of the employers with a successful English-as-a-second-language class, which is starting its second year.
"It has made such a difference in their lives," she said of the student-employees at Warsaw Coil.
Maple Leaf Farms also is in its second year of workplace literacy classes, she said, and has started a math class as well.
Brenda Rigdon, executive director of KLS, said the organization's new emphasis is on family literacy and helping children get started on a lifetime of reading.
She cited statistics that by the time they start kindergarten, children from low-income families, in which parents may not have the time to read to their children, have been read to an average total of 25 hours. Kids from middle-income families, on the other hand, have been read to more than 1,000 hours.
"The difference it makes in those kids and how well they do in school is just amazing," she said.
To focus attention on the importance of reading to kids, ALS, in conjunction with Head Start, Child Abuse Prevention Council, Warsaw Community Public Library, Mental Health Association and B.A.B.E., is sponsoring "Dads Reach Out and Read," starting Nov. 12, Rigdon said.
"Dads Reach Out and Read" will feature high-profile men from the community who will read each night to kids at WCPL. The dads will read in English and Spanish, Rigdon said.
The program, she said, is to "help children see how important reading is to their parents," and also will "help parents learn how to read to their kids."
Thursday's breakfast program also featured a talk by Ed Castor, who could not read or write until he was in his 40s. Castor, who is now on the Indiana Literacy Foundation board of directors and was honored at the White House by President George Bush, described his problems learning to read in school and hiding his illiteracy as an adult.
In school, he said, "You learn how to survive. You really don't learn how to learn the things you need to learn. You learn how to survive."
He became adept at lying and bluffing his way through life, he said, to hide his illiteracy.
"I got so good at covering up that I couldn't read that I got two disciplinary actions for reading on the job," he said.
Finally, he said, a literacy volunteer took the time to teach him to read, though it still takes him longer than many people.
Castor has shared his message through articles and speeches, he said. He has spoken on the subject at the United Nations and he's had books of poetry published.
