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Published: Thursday, August 5, 2010 at 1:00 a.m.
Literacy Council of Manatee County volunteer tutor Verna Urbanski, left, and her student, Alifonso Casique, study inside the Manatee County Central Library.CORRESPONDENT PHOTO / J. NIELSEN
One person at a time, the Literacy Council of Manatee County is improving lives by helping people with their English skills.
According to a National Center for Education Statistics surveys conducted in both 1992 and 2003, nearly 25 percent of people age 16 and older scored on the lowest level of reading proficiency.
There is a need for people like veteran Ann Zimmerman and newcomer Verna Urbanski to become volunteer tutors, providing free help to people who want to learn to read and write.
Zimmerman, 67, moved to Bradenton from St. Louis more than 20 years ago. Almost as soon as she arrived, she volunteered with the Literacy Council.
"You don't just sit one hour a week and do reading; you get involved," she said. "I've done various things when people need help. Even the simplest of things can seem overwhelming for someone not familiar with the language."
Helping people with difficult tasks, such as navigating the quagmire of government bureaucracy to earn their citizenship, is fulfilling for Zimmerman.
"The Literacy Council does a job on a shoestring that is so important to the community," she said. "People that cannot read aren't able to fully participate in the community. We have a lot of immigrants in this area, and they need to know how to communicate."
Her reason for helping others is simple.
"As a child, I lived in a very small town," Zimmerman said. "There was no television. I grew up reading. I got to thinking about how much I enjoy reading, so I decided there's no reason I can't teach someone how to read."
Urbanski, 61, moved to the area from Springfield, Mass., in 2000. She began volunteering about seven months ago.
"I was looking for something to do on the weekend," she said. "I thought it would be a good fit."
Her reason for volunteering?"I work for the Women's Resource Center in Sarasota County," Urbanski said. "I see the impact we can have on people."
Urbanski was partnered with Alifonso Casique, who waited for two years to be a assigned to a tutor.
In addition to books supplied by the Literacy Council, Urbanski bought her own tutorial books to help Casique.
Focusing primarily on vocabulary during a recent study session, Urbanski also addressed the rudiments of grammar in addition to suffix and prefix work. "He likes to be challenged," she said.
Examples of the evening's spelling words were "imagine," "sandwich" and "paragraph."
Beside Casique was a new book. He recently began reading Jules Verne's "A Journey to the Center of the Earth." He recently finished reading Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea."
"I let him choose his books to read," Urbanski said.
Casique, originally from near Mexico City, has been in the United States for 11 years and works full time in masonry. He and his wife have three young boys, ages 4, 6 and 10.
"Four months ago, my children had no interest in me reading them a book," Casique said. "But now they come to me asking 'Poppy will you read me a book?'"
And that is rewarding for his tutor.
"He's a good student," Urbanski said. "He's prepared. He's not wasting my time, and there are many more like him out there. He wants to learn."
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