Sunshine Community Services Center
P.O. Box 405
701 May Street
Kewanee, IL 61443
Sunshine Community Services Center
701 May Street
P.O. Box 405
Kewanee, IL 61443
ph: 309-853-7751
sunshine
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Mayor's Day of Recognition for National Service
April 11, 2017 Program
April 5, 2016 Program
http://www.starcourier.com/article/20160418/NEWS/160419519
By Tammy Wilkinson
April 01. 2014 8:40PM
Kewanee participates in Mayors Day of Recognition for National Service
Volunteers and AmeriCorps members recognized during the second annual Kewanee Mayors Day of Recognition for National Services were, seated from left, Etta LaFlora, Phyillis Dotson, Clara Hemphill and Jaira Ibarra; and in back, Mayor Bruce Tossell, David Harris, Dorthy Miaso, Ron Happach and Deb Sundberg.
Mayor Bruce Tossell thanked a group of local volunteers for their service Tuesday during a program on the second annual Mayors Day of Recognition for National Service.
"The people of this community are fortunate to have people like you that have given your time, talents, and knowledge and reached out to those in need,” Tossell said.
"You and your organizations are what transforms this city into a community. What you do is important. The city cannot provide all the services and the variety of things that you do. You make life better for all of our citizens. Thank you for being there as a partner with us."
Tossell said last year the Kewanee City Council passed a proclamation authorizing the city to participate in the Cities of Service Coalition.
Etta LaFlora, executive director of Sunshine Community Services Center, used the coalition to get funds to expand the organization's network of volunteers for after-school tutoring programs to serve at-risk students in the community.
Literacy Volunteers of Illinois, the Community Education Center and Sunshine Community Services Center provide tutoring services to students and adults.
Literacy programs include the Step Ladder after-school tutoring program for middle school students at Central School and Wethersfield Junior High, and a Jump Start program for juveniles housed at the Illinois Youth Center-Kewanee.
Dorothy Miaso, executive director of Literacy Volunteers of Illinois, said her agency develops and supports volunteer literacy programs that help families, adults and out-of-school teens.
"People don't realize there is an adult literacy issue here in the United States. It's a hidden issue. One in four adults suffers from an inability to be able to read. Our volunteer tutors really contribute to turning those lives around,” she said.
Coordinator David Harris, of the Career Education Center, said AmeriCorps volunteers have helped general education degree students through their services.
"We had a gentleman whose wife had become homebound. He wanted to be able to go to the grocery store and be able to read the ingredients on the food labels and learn how to write out a check for his purchases.
“With the help of a tutor he learned how to accomplish those feats and later went on to get hired as a school custodian. With those skills he quite literally went from having no money to having a job and making a decent living,” said Harris.
Deb Sundberg, program coordinator for youth at the Illinois Youth Center, was the Kewanee area’s first AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer in in 2007.
"Literacy volunteers provide resources for people who need it the most,” Sundberg said.
http://www.starcourier.com/article/20140401
Copyright 2011 Sunshine Community Services Center. All rights reserved.
Sunshine Community Services Center
701 May Street
P.O. Box 405
Kewanee, IL 61443
ph: 309-853-7751
sunshine