Harrison
February 27th, 2008, 4:32 pm
In case you missed it, Grand Rapids, Michigan was showcased in a series on ABC World News last night with Charles Gibson. I am so proud to be a Michigander when I hear and see wonderful people in our great State that are not willing to give up!
Out of the Shadows, Overcoming Illiteracy
From Tutors to Work-Site Programs, One City Is Fighting the Illiteracy Epidemic
By PIERRE THOMAS, JACK DATE and THERESA COOK
Feb. 26, 2008 —
Roger Vredenburg, a one-time maintenance worker, remembers the day he was forced to confront his illiteracy.
"Well, it was real difficult because I lost a job that I had been working for a long time," he said. "They come and they found out I couldn't read so they told me I had to go back to my old job and that was really a heartbreaking experience, I mean it was a real traumatic experience."
Vredenburg realized he needed help, but sharing his secret was gut wrenching.
"It's like [an] alcoholic, smoking, anything like that," he said. "Anything you've got to face up to admit you're doing to make changes. It was a difficult thing to do."
"The most difficult part about that whole thing was humiliating myself now to the point where I could call" a literacy program. "I mean I had their number for a week before I gave them a call and I debated and debated and in fact when I went up there for the first interview, I walked down the hallway almost to the door, and turned around and walked back to the elevator, and then I said well, I gone this far so I might just well go in and see what they can do."
The Plainfield, Mich., resident's experience is hardly unique. In nearby Grand Rapids, a city of 184,000, one out of every five residents has difficulty reading or cannot read at all.
More:
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/LegalCenter/story?id=4342759&page=1
Out of the Shadows, Overcoming Illiteracy
From Tutors to Work-Site Programs, One City Is Fighting the Illiteracy Epidemic
By PIERRE THOMAS, JACK DATE and THERESA COOK
Feb. 26, 2008 —
Roger Vredenburg, a one-time maintenance worker, remembers the day he was forced to confront his illiteracy.
"Well, it was real difficult because I lost a job that I had been working for a long time," he said. "They come and they found out I couldn't read so they told me I had to go back to my old job and that was really a heartbreaking experience, I mean it was a real traumatic experience."
Vredenburg realized he needed help, but sharing his secret was gut wrenching.
"It's like [an] alcoholic, smoking, anything like that," he said. "Anything you've got to face up to admit you're doing to make changes. It was a difficult thing to do."
"The most difficult part about that whole thing was humiliating myself now to the point where I could call" a literacy program. "I mean I had their number for a week before I gave them a call and I debated and debated and in fact when I went up there for the first interview, I walked down the hallway almost to the door, and turned around and walked back to the elevator, and then I said well, I gone this far so I might just well go in and see what they can do."
The Plainfield, Mich., resident's experience is hardly unique. In nearby Grand Rapids, a city of 184,000, one out of every five residents has difficulty reading or cannot read at all.
More:
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/LegalCenter/story?id=4342759&page=1