Volunteers are the backbone of not-for-profit organizations.
“Without volunteers our program would not exist,” said Christine Restivo, executive director of The Niagara Regional Learning Centre (NRLC). “They form our board of directors, committees, and every tutor is a volunteer.”
The learning centre, on Bunting Road in St. Catharines, has nearly 50 volunteers providing training and tutoring to community members of St. Catharines, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Thorold, Niagara Falls, and Welland.
“We help people achieve their goals in employment, apprenticeship, and finishing Grade 12. We even prepare people for going back to college,” said board member and tutor Jacky Catterick.
A Thorold resident, Catterick who has been in the business of helping people gain independence through improved literacy for 25 years, said that “many clients have developmental disabilities or are seniors looking to learn computer skills. Others are people looking for employment by improving their computer skills, including how to use the internet and how to take an online course.”
The learning centre, founded in 1978, assists adults with reading, writing, numeracy, workplace, computer and life skills. They offer one-to-one instruction in reading, writing, math or high school equivalency preparation.
It holds group computer classes in Excel and Word, but “digital upgrading encompasses more than just the computer,” said Restivo. “It includes how to use social media, all mobile devices, and using information and communication technologies to create, evaluate and share content.” Learners tend to be between the ages of 35 to 50, but can be as young as 18 or as old as 80.
Virgil resident Margaret Northfield was no stranger to volunteering — she once sat on the Bruce Trail Conservancy board — when a fellow hiker told her about the work she was doing with the learning centre, teaching literacy and computer skills to NOTL migrant workers.
“That sounded really interesting, and I'm an avid reader. I’m in a couple book clubs and I just couldn't imagine anybody not being able to read, so I thought this was a good fit for me.”
Northfield said she was amazed when she realized how many people have low literacy skills.
Restivo puts that number at 48 percent. “Of that 48 percent, the 15 percent with the lowest literacy levels have serious difficulty reading printed material.” Restivo added that low literacy skills are directly linked to poverty, poor health and high unemployment, and that that improved literacy skills leads to improved confidence, which in turn can improve job prospects.
Northfield has tutored learners in literacy and reading. “Now I'm doing some computer one-on-one tutoring,” she said. “And now, of course, we're working on this fundraiser for the trivia night.”
The learning centre is funded by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. but they also rely heavily on funding from United Way and Delta Bingo as well as donations from the community. They top up their coffers with community events such as a Scrabble night event they held for eight years.
This year they are trying something new with a trivia night to be held Feb. 21 at the Armenian Hall on Martindale Road in St. Catharines. Tickets are $25 per person or $190 for a table of eight. Call 905-684-3500 ext. 552 to reserve your table. And of course, the volunteers have been busy rounding up prizes from the community.
“Many people I talk to say, ‘oh, I'm not a big trivia person.’ You don't have to be a big trivia person,” said Northfield. “You just have to want to get together with a group of friends and have some fun and, in the meantime, you're donating money for a good cause.”
A good cause indeed, one relying on volunteers to help adults earn their high school equivalency, or become computer-proficient, causing a ripple effect benefiting families, employers, the local economy and society at large.
“And volunteers are always needed,” added Restivo. They can live anywhere in the Niagara region and they meet learners in the offices of the learning centre in St. Catharines, the Niagara Falls YMCA or in libraries. To learn more, visit literacyniagara.org.
