Join Macomb Literacy Partners
Sharing your reading skills can make a difference in someone's life and in yours!
If you think you're unqualified to teach someone to read, please consider that you just passed the test. All it takes is the ability to read and the interest to help others. As a volunteer for Macomb Literacy Partners, you'll help someone learn one of the most basic skills for getting ahead. And it only takes a few hours a week.
Listed here are a number of ways that you can help.

BECOME a VOLUNTEER TUTOR -- MLP provides training and support services including materials. Volunteers must be at least 18 years of age, have a high school diploma or equivalent and be willing to contribute at least two hours per week for one year. Volunteer tutors work with adult new readers at times and locations convenient for both, in quiet areas of public sites such as libraries, churches, schools or businesses.

Become a FRIEND OF MACOMB LITERACY PARTNERS. MLP Friends meet monthly with others interested in helping. Application forms are available by calling 586-286-2750

MLP READ TO ME, ROSCO! -- Outreach to parents and young children (0-8).
Help with set-up, registration and distribution of snacks and children’s books at Read to Me, Rosco! events at schools, libraries, churches and community centers.

SPECIAL EVENTS -- Help other MLP friends raise dollars for Literacy such as ushering at Freedom Hill Concerts. Help other service organizations such Rotary, Kiwanis, Zonta, Soroptimists and churches as they do fundraising for MLP, i.e. golf outings, Chili Cook-offs & Bake Sale Auctions, raffles and more …

ANNUAL MLP RECOGNITION EVENT -- Help our Chairperson plan and facilitate.

PROVIDE a TUTORING SITE -- Join the many schools, libraries, churches and businesses that offer a quiet space where tutors and students may meet.

PUBLIC AWARENESS -- Help get public service announcements in newspapers, church bulletins, on cable, radio, etc. (3-6 hours per month).

RECEPTIONIST and COMPUTER SUPPORT -- Volunteers who are familiar with normal office procedures can help with reminder calls, mailings, typing and general office responsibilities. (2 to 8 hours per month).

BOARD & COMMITTEE MEMBER -- Participate on the MLP Board of Directors or Advisory Board.

PROVIDE FINANCIAL SUPPORT -- Be recognized! – Help make Macomb a County of Readers with a tax-deductible contribution of any size. Significant annual donations are recognized through Project 250, MLP’s planned giving campaign, and Legacy for Literacy, which enables donors to ensure MLP’s future while receiving tax advantages. In-Kind donations such as office supplies, furniture, office machines, new/gently used children’s books and many other in-kind gifts are needed.

Learn to read – and Share Your Gifts
Joan S. Lasher, May 2005

I joined Macomb Literacy Partners to help others and found I’d helped myself more than I could ever have imagined! The joy of working with my first partner and her delightful family is a bonus I never expected, but one that I welcome and cherish.

Amy Lin and her husband Martin came from Taiwan to lend their talents, and those of their two boys, Kenny and Johnny, to their adopted country. They have welcomed me graciously into their lives and I have tried to reciprocate. The differences in their ages and cultures notwithstanding, we have laughed and giggled and found our common human threads to weave into a friendship that I hope will last a lifetime.

Helping someone learn to read is truly ‘sharing the wealth’ on many levels. Today the ability to read gives a person access not only to all the information in our country’s many libraries, but with the flourishing internet, to all the information available in the world.

Teach one person to read and you will have given an incomparable gift and yes your own life will be enriched! Do it today!

Joan S. Lasher is a Macomb Literacy Partners volunteer tutor and renowned award winning local watercolor artist. Joan donated her time and talent to create the front cover of the new MLP Read to Me Manual with the help of her literacy partner Amy Lin and her son Johnny who served as models for her wonderful artwork.

Volunteer to be a tutor
Volunteer tutors help adults who need basic literacy skills or who are new English speakers.

FAQ:
 Who can become a volunteer tutor?
 How will I know what to do?
 Where can I get materials?
 Where and how often do I tutor?
 Why should I be a tutor?
Please send me information about becoming a volunteer.

A grant from the Comcast Foundation is helping to provide training for Volunteer Tutors.