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| READ LAPORTE COUNTY STINGS COMPETITION IN EXECUTIVE SPELLING BEE!
In a hotly-contested competition, READ LaPorte County Inc. triumphantly spelled its way to win the Literacy Council of LaPorte County’s fifth annual Executive Spelling Bee on Thursday, March 24.
Team members included Timothy Stabosz, Sandra Provan, Michele Dzielinski, and Christine Rosario. This year’s winning word was “kinesitherapy” – a movement-related term.
The other three final teams in the bee were all previous winners, including Dunebrook, La Porte County Library, and Rotary Club of La Porte.
The event at the Best Western Conference Center drew more than 100 participants and supporters, including 14 teams of spellers representing agencies, businesses, and service clubs.
Sponsors included Alcoa Howmet – which fielded three teams, Centier Bank, Unity Foundation of LaPorte County, Newby Lewis Kaminski and Jones, and Walmart. The annual “Bee Basket” was donated courtesy of Pepperidge Farm at Lighthouse Outlet, and McDonald’s provided meal coupons as prizes.
Judges for this year’s event were Katherine Cope and Tom MacLellan. Mary Hedge again served as pronouncer.
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OUR THANKS
TO UNITY FOUNDATION OF LAPORTE COUNTY for ongoing grants in support of the Literacy
Council's growth.
In
addition, we thank the following funders:
- Barker Welfare Foundation, Michigan
City Community Enrichment Corp., City of Michigan City, NIPSCO, Alcoa Howmet, Milton and Sylvia Bankoff Fund, and Unity Foundation of LaPorte County for
supporting the Special Reading Needs tutoring programs.
COUNCIL
HISTORY:
In
November 2002, Unity Foundation and The Discovery Alliance held
a forum to begin finding solutions for LaPorte County's very low
literacy rate, as studies show nearly 50 percent of residents read
at a minimal level. Healthy Communities was targeted as the potential
coordinator to develop a countywide literacy coalition to address
this important issue.
Over
the past years, several dedicated literacy service providers and
other supportive organizations have collaborated with HCLC
to grow this countywide effort.
Michigan
City resident Judy Hanish is a part-time coordinator handling tasks
such as strengthening marketing of programs and awareness of literacy
in our community, creating a referral system, and helping recruit
and train literacy volunteers. Our coalition is pursuing an aggressive
strategic plan to fulfill these goals, with additional focus on
early childhood literacy projects.
In
addition, the Literacy Council was pleased to merge its efforts
with Mayor Oberlie's Task Force on Literacy to work together to
benefit the county. For more information about LaPorte County literacy
projects, call Judy at 879-9486.
LITERACY COUNCIL OF
LAPORTE COUNTY MEMBERSHIP:
Adult Basic Education
BabyTALK
Barker Woods Enrichment
Center
Dunebrook
Healthy Communities of
LaPorte County
Ivy Tech Community College
La Porte County Public
Library
Michigan City Public Library
READ La Porte County,
Inc.
Sand Castle Shelter for Children and Families
Unity Foundation of La
Porte County
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