Eau Claire (WQOW) - A local volunteer organization
celebrated this afternoon in Eau
Claire. Literacy
volunteers-Chippewa Valley held its annual 'celebration of the stars'
event at Lake Street Methodist
Church this afternoon.
This year, it highlighted students who passed their G.E.D. or citizenship
testing. "It's a way of saying thank you for all
of the work they've done throughout the year. Our year begins on July 1 and
ends on June 30th. So this is the end of an academic year you might say."
Over 10 percent of people living in
the Chippewa Valley struggle to read and write.
"Adults come to us
because they have some kind of a literacy goal. It may be that they dropped out
of school for whatever reason and they didn't finish their GED. It may be that
they've been living in the country for a short time and they need to work on
their English in order to get in to a high school program."
Of course, members join for more
than just the recognition at this event.
"This is a kind of
time to take a moment, look back and say "Yeah, I put in 70, 80, maybe 150
hours of study this year, and I went up maybe two or three levels in my
reading. Or maybe I got my GED or my HSAD, maybe I got my citizenship." That's
a great sense of accomplishment."
One student was given even more
reason to celebrate. Solomon Gebre and his family received a free car as part of
a partnership between the LVCV and Tower Auto Body.
"Sometimes I work
night times and take a taxi that's expensive. So this, for me, its very nice to
me and all my family."
"We take so many
things for granted. We have a car, we have an easy ability to read and speak
and understand English. So it's hard to understand, the people we serve are
really hard-working, really dedicated, really committed."
