She said there are 5 levels of literacy with Basic being the lowest. In 2003 there were 1 million Wisconsinites below the Basic level in all 3 types of literacy.

She and Roger make a great team. She works on the prose literacy, he works on the quantitative and they both work on the document literacy. They work with many volunteers including our own Charlie Clark. They like working with retired folks to be tutors to help them retain their skills. The people who need help the most are very proud and don’t show up for the first few appointments.

They work with Guidance Counselors to find High School students who need help. Many students who have illnesses, injury or emotional problems fall behind in school. Some figure out elaborate coping strategies rather than getting help. In many cases, it is easier to seek help for a Math problem than a reading problem.

She spoke about English as a Second Language (ESL). It is not exclusively for immigrants. Sometimes workers need help with “functional literacy”. This means learning terminology specific for the job. They try to arrange for a class before the work shift.

Thanks for the wonderful speech!

UPCOMING EVENTS

UPCOMING SPEAKERS

The club approved establishing a second club here in Platteville. The group decided to change the meeting times to the 2nd and 4th Wednesday at Noon at Chicago’s Best. The next meeting will be at Chicago’s Best on October 28th. This will be their Charter meeting. Past OI President Dwaine Sievers will conduct the Charter meeting.

John Dutcher gave us information for ordering Optimist shirts from Land’s End. Click Here, or you can call 1-800-338-2000 to order yours.

The new board will meet on Thursday, November 12th at 7 am at Badger Brothers. We will discuss the Protect Youth Online, - an Optimists International program.

Doug Martin was the lucky one selected. He drew the 5 of Spades and won $2! The pot is over $660 and growing! Good luck to next week’s winner.

Steve & Maxine Lane have graciously opened their new house to have a dinner social on Saturday November 14. After dinner, there will be a road trip to the Grand Opera House in Dubuque to see "The Regifters". For more information, or to sign up, click here.

SWIS District will hold its 1st Quarter Conference here in Platteville at the Governor Dodge. Sign up to attend the Saturday program at the next meeting or download the material from the SWIS District web site and send it in. Suzy Favor-Hamilton is the Keynote Speaker. Jerry is also looking for 3 - 4 folks to help Angela with the Hospitality Room on Friday night.

We received a “Thank You” from OI Foundation for our $500 donation.