Liz Kirchner
The bakery at Our Daily Bread in Blacksburg is warm and smells like sugar, and Aurora Garcia is laughing as she talks about the year she spent dashing with her children from school to English-as-a-second-language classes to Family READS classes every Tuesday.
“At that time, I lived in Pearisburg. It’s very far. Every Tuesday, I prepared and packed snacks for us.” Then she and 3-year-old, Megan would set off rushing through the busy evening.
“I would pick up my son from school at 2:30. I was always yelling “Hurry up! Get in the car!” Taking the little hand of Megan and running!”
They would rush to English class from 3 to 5. Then to Family READS where they would read together at the Blacksburg Library with people from all over the world.
“There were people from a lot of countries. Korea, China, Nepal. I represented Mexico!”
Garcia’s was one of six families that graduated from the Blacksburg Library’s Family READS (Reading and English to Achieve Dreams and Success) program last year.
In partnership with Christiansburg-based Literacy Volunteers of the New River Valley, Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library was selected as one of 20 public libraries nationwide to receive a $10,000 American Dream Literacy Initiative grant from the American Library Association and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation.
Parents wishing to improve their English skills and who had preschool children were invited to attend this free 16-hour family literacy program that gave parents new skills and knowledge to help their children be successful in school. Children were immersed in literacy activities, and families learned how to access the library’s free resources and received free children’s books.
Arriving in the U.S. from Mexico nine years ago, friends shared the Literacy Volunteers of the New River Valley Facebook page with Garcia and her family.
Since then, rushing from English class to reading practice has meant that she landed a job in a hair salon and continues to attend English language classes.
Family READS program is for English language-learning parents who have small children ages 3-8 to help the family read together. This winter, the program served 15 adults, 20 kids, 6 volunteers and curriculum has expanded to include “How to help children succeed in school and volunteer students from VT do STEM activities with the children.
For more information and to volunteer, contact Literacy Volunteers of the New River Valley at www.lvnrv.org or phone Director Linda Jilk at 540-382-7262
