We’ve spent the last eight weeks taking a look at organizations through the eyes of their volunteers, staff, and clients. Each and every story has been a joy but also somewhat of a struggle to tell. Doing justice to the personality and passion of each person was a challenge and an investment, but that was the way we wanted our listeners to see these organizations — not through a mission statement or a standard commercial, but rather through an individual’s narrative.

There are many reasons Literacy Services of Wisconsin made sense as our final organization. For one, as I mentioned in our first post on Joanne and Linda, their work ties together a number of the volunteering/mentoring themes we’ve seen develop over the span of the campaign. Additionally, they are a perfect bridge to our Meet The Need campaign, where we highlight 50 non-profit organizations serving the needs of our community in 50 days.

Oftentimes, when we think of “basic needs,” three things come to mind: food, shelter, clothing. However, when we think about how deficiencies in basic needs arise, we’re immediately led to a whole network of other needs: education, employment, housing, community, and of course, literacy. Literacy Services gives adults a basic building block that they need to function productively in our society. Whether it be their ABE (Adult Basic Education), ESL (English as a Second Language), or GED (General Education Degree) program, the work Literacy Services does has a massive impact in the lives of their students.

Jessica Doyle visits Literacy Services of Wisconsin

In our first piece of extra audio, Joanne discusses how difficult life was before learning to read. Before you listen, take a moment and imagine the difficulties you’d face in life if you were not literate: 

The second piece of audio is also from my interview with Joanne and her tutor Linda. In my opinion, this piece of audio was one perhaps the most surprising of the entire campaign — Linda talks about Joanne voting in her first election for Barack Obama. Maybe it’s just me, but the story doesn’t quite go in the direction I expected it to:

This final piece of audio is taken from an interview I was unfortunately not able to get to last week. Melvin is a GED student who’s been coming to Literacy Services on and off for the past few years. Here, we get a feeling of his commitment to being a student and just how important a GED is to him:

For more information on Literacy Services of Wisconsin, visit their website. If you’re interested in volunteering of visiting Literacy Services, contact them here.

Produced by: Adam Carr

People who are not Mark Short at the LSW Spelling Bee

Listen: Over the past eight weeks, we’ve heard a number of different ways volunteers first came across their organization, from the inspiring to the expected — this time, it’s a spelling bee. Mark Short was a participant in Literacy Services of Wisconsin’s (LSW) Corporate Spelling Bee, a fund raiser that lets Milwaukee’s business community donate and have a good deal of fun at the same time. While he participated in the spelling bee for a number of years in various capacities, it was not until he visited their facility that the mission of Literacy Services sunk in, leading to his current position at the organization — board president. This is Mark’s story with Literacy Services.

To echo Mark, I would highly recommend visiting their facility if you’re interested in the organization. While I like to think the audio piece does a decent job representing the work done at LSW, there is no replacement for the firsthand experience.

For more information on Literacy Services, visit their website. Also, if you’re interested in getting involved with Literacy Services, get in touch with them here.

Produced by: Adam Carr

Jordan here!
I had the pleasure to speak with India McCanse, Executive Director of Literacy Services of Wisconsin (LSW). India and I had some great talks about the services they provide at LSW and a more in depth look at who they serve.

I was unaware of the large mix of students they have come through the doors at LSW and the array of services they provide.
Take a listen to my talk with India here…

Linda, across from Joanne.

Listen: For the final stop of Make A Difference, we spend a week with Literacy Services of Wisconsin (LSW), a great finale for our campaign. For one, they embody nearly every theme we’ve come across thus far — volunteering is fun, rewarding, a chance to learn, a chance to share, and so much more. These two months, we’ve seen a wide spectrum of volunteer work from the conventional to the unfamiliar, and Literacy Services is a perfect blend of the two.

LSW provides literacy education to motivated adults through the efforts of dedicated volunteers, the gifts of private contributors and the use of specialized curricula to meet individual and community needs. I arrived at their building in the beautiful SoHi neighborhood (if you’ve never been there before, check out the neighborhood’s amazing architecture sometime), and I only needed a few moments to absorb just how cool of a project LSW is.

The lobby looks into a big open main classroom, with teacher-student  pairs seated at tables throughout the space. The usual tutor/tutee relationship that comes to mind is that of adult and youth, a subtle departure from this picture. As I observed from the lobby, and throughout the rest of the afternoon, the significance of this difference sunk in. These students are not there because their parents or school teacher decided they needed extra help. Rather, each and every student is at LSW of their own accord. Whatever the reason they have difficulties with reading, they all go to LSW for the same reason — to learn.

Of course, you don’t need to take my word for it, as the students can speak for themselves. In this first piece, we hear the amazing life story of Joanne and her incredibly devoted tutor Linda:

In this piece Linda says “I have learned that the people, no matter what their past history, they make the effort. They are determined, they come here day after day, absolutely with the drive to make their lives better. And I find that so inspiring and motivating in my own life.” Contextually, it’s clear she’s talking about the students. However, her use of “the people” allows for a different reading of the statement — those people could be the volunteers.

For more information on Literacy Services, visit their website. Also, if you’re interested in getting involved with Literacy Services, get in touch with them here.

Produced by: Adam Carr

Volunteering can seem hard. All the time and energy and logistics can be daunting to a person with a busy life.

However, sometimes you can make a world of difference by giving of yourself on the most basic levels. This is evident in youth mentorship, as most kids are simply looking for someone to spend time with them. Nothing too earth shattering or radical. Along these lines, After Breast Cancer Diagnosis (ABCD) gives breast cancer survivors the opportunity to give back simply by sharing their experience. By virtue of being a survivor, ABCD’s mentors symbolize hope for someone newly diagnosed with breast cancer. Sometimes, the simple things can be the most meaningful.

In our first piece of extra audio, Julie gives us a concise and detailed overview of ABCD, from its beginnings with Melodie Wilson to details of how they operate. She speaks a bit on how the mentor-mentee matches are done, a topic which wasn’t covered with any great detail in our three pieces, but is a major factor in ABCD’s success:

Along with her husband Willy, we heard Annette tell her story from the beginning to present day. Because so much ground was covered, I didn’t have a chance to fully flesh out her experiences as a mentor. However, there was some really good tape there:

This final bit from Lisa gets into a point I found very interesting about ABCD, one that sunk in gradually over the course of three interviews. The mentor-mentee interactions take place primarily over the phone and there are many obvious reasons for this, but it’s not always just a matter of convenience:

For more information on ABCD, visit their newly redesigned and incredibly informative website (I pinched much of the gorgeous artwork used on the blog this week from their site). If you’re interested in getting involved with ABCD, this is a direct link to their volunteering opportunities.

Produced by: Adam Carr

Listen: In our first piece with After Breast Cancer Diagnosis (ABCD), we heard Julie speak about her first experience as a mentor and the incredible impact sharing her personal experiences made in another woman’s life. In the second, we heard how Lisa’s mentor gave her compassion and understanding as she went through treatments, a reassuring push she hadn’t found anywhere else.

In our final piece with ABCD, we hear Annette and Willy Hopgood walk us through their process. They start with the confusion and uncertainty at the beginning, detail some of the challenges associated with treatments, speak to how Annette’s mentor helped her get through, and finish with Annette’s eventual decision to give back and volunteer with ABCD. This piece runs from beginning to end, featuring both perspectives of the diagnosed and thex lynchpin of her support system. Annette and Willy:

For more information on ABCD, visit their website. Also, if you’re interested in getting involved with ABCD, this is a direct link to their volunteering opportunities.

Produced by: Adam Carr

I know ABCD, the most creative name we’ve had yet… right?
ABCD stands for After Breast Cancer Diagnosis. The folks at ABCD realized that having breast cancer is about much more than biopsies, surgery and chemotherapy. They realize that the emotional work is equal to the physical strain.
ABCS provides valuable information and support from other women in similar life circumstances with similar experiences with the disease.

This morning I had the chance to interview Ginny and Theresa from ABCD about this amazing Milwaukee organization. We spoke about the history of their program, the services they provide, and ways that other women can help in the fight against breast cancer.
Take a listen here…