Write a comment“Twelve percent of Oswego County’s adult population is at or below a fifth grade reading level,” said Meg Henderson, the coordinator of Oswego County Opportunities’ Literacy Volunteers Program.
In order to combat this very important issue, Henderson, and the rest of the Literacy Volunteers, hosted the 8th Annual Diane Falise Memorial Scrabble Fest at the Elk’s Lodge in Oswego on Friday night.
The event pitted 24 teams of four, with names such as The Spelling Bees, The A-Team and The Four Blanks, among many others, against each other for four rounds of word play.
Each round lasted 20 minutes and was officiated over by a timekeeper, a judge and a scorekeeper, all made up of various volunteers.
After four rounds and a lot of friendly competition, the winning team members from The Compass Word Crafters walked away with $50 gift cards to the River’s End Bookstore (pictured to the right.)
At the beginning of the night, local news anchor and author, Christie Casciano, kicked off the night. She welcomed all of the players and thanked them for their donations before giving a short speech and explaining the rules.
Casciano agreed to host Scrabble Fest after Henderson wrote her a letter explaining what Scrabble Fest was all about.
“Meg Henderson wrote me this amazing letter and the first line of her letter was ‘Reading is the foundation to success,’ which hooked me right away,” Casciano said. “She explained that they needed some support for Scrabble Fest. They weren’t getting as many entries, and she was hoping I could help promote the cause and help people understand the importance of the work that they do.”
Casciano also visited the offices of the Literacy Volunteers where she was told of the budget cuts the program has fallen prey to.
“I actually went to their office, and they explained to me all the work they do and how much the program has grown and how the funds have been cut,” Casciano said. “They’re working with fewer resources and the demand has gotten higher, so I wanted to do whatever I could to help.”
With such a noble cause behind her, Casciano helped promote the event and took time off between newscasts to emcee.
With Casciano’s help, the Literacy Volunteers registered 24 teams for Scrabble Fest and received donations from over 50 local and national businesses. The monetary donations went directly to the Literacy Volunteers program, while the other donated goods were set up into a silent auction. Between the rounds of play, baskets were bid on and the winners were announced at the end of the night.
“The proceeds all benefit the Literacy Volunteers program, from this fundraising event tonight,” Henderson said. “That means it will help pay for tutor and student materials, computer equipment, hopefully some iPods. It also allows us to serve more people that really need our services, besides having the materials that they need.”
One person that directly benefitted from the services provided by the Literacy Volunteers was Scrabble Fest’s guest speaker Patricia Mazzoli, who started getting tutored in adult literacy at the Literacy Volunteers almost two years ago.
“Patricia started two years ago, and what she has learned in less than two years takes somebody more than four school years to accomplish,” Henderson said.
During her speech, Mazzoli recounted the struggles she experienced in life before seeking help with the Literacy Volunteers.
“I can remember having a hard time with my math and reading skills. It was a difficult time for me struggling to survive in life,” Mazzoli said.
Once a friend told her about the Literacy Volunteers, Mazzoli signed up and began to witness many positive changes take place in her life now that she was finally getting the education she needed.
“My friend mentioned this program to me. She said it would help me to improve my skills and reach my goals,” Mazzoli said. “It sure takes perseverance, patience, time and hard work.”
However, Mazzoli is hopeful and says that the effort will pay off.
“I am very excited and looking forward to reaching my goals and continuing my journey towards a better future,” she said.
Henderson hopes that Scrabble Fest acted to inspire all of those who played and attended to take a stand for adult literacy.
“I hope that they continue to support and follow this program and hear the success stories,” she said. “Whether that inspires them to become a volunteer or to donate money or whatever. I hope that everyone continues to stay active and involved with this program and realize how important they are.”
