2016-17

Volunteers' Stories 2016-17

Everyone has a unique story to tell, just waiting to be heard by others. From the front lines in Bosnia to the front offices in Manhattan, LVA’s volunteer tutors come to us with fascinating backgrounds. We are proud to share the stories of these amazing individuals who bring their varied experiences to their tutoring sessions with students.

Enjoy learning about people such as the former missionary who delivered medical supplies to remote villages, retired business professionals, lawyers, healthcare providers, college students and caregivers who balance home life, work and volunteering.

Ellen Martin

As a news reporter and freelance writer for decades, Ellen Rooney Martin has seen it all, and covered it too, from Chicago’s hardscrabble politics to a Midwest earthquake, to feature stories on business and trade, food and health.

Yet she’s found it new and exciting to meet and help adult learners from all over the world, among them her students from Nepal, Bangladesh, and other countries, she said.

“When I walk into the library, I see my students sitting there chatting in English because they have no common language,” said Ellen. “It is lovely.”

Ellen learned of Literacy Volunteers of America, Essex & Passaic Counties, one year and a half ago through a listing posted online by the Montclair Public Library. She signed up for a tutor-training workshop right away.

“Finding LVA was a little ironic,” she explained. “It was a way of traveling the world on a reporter’s budget. I get to meet so many different people from interesting places.”

Ellen’s start with her very first LVA student was a bit unusual. Upon her student’s arrival, one by one, the student’s family members started trailing in. Ellen remembers, “I was a little overwhelmed because tutoring was all new to me.” She quickly took hold of the situation and shortly found herself working with only her student.

During the past year and a half that Ellen has been an LVA tutor, she has worked with a steady roster of ESOL students. Her friendly smile and gentle spirit are enough to put even the most timid learner at ease.

“My personality type needs a lot of new things,” Ellen stated. Along with tutoring, her other interests are cooking for her family, writing, and exercise. Ellen has three young adult sons who enjoy her efforts in the kitchen. “I enjoy experimenting with new recipes,” she said. “My boys would like it to be steak every night, but that is not an option,” she was quick to add.

To combine her interests in food and exercise, Ellen currently works as a freelance writer for Healthline.com. Her work has also appeared in The Chicago Tribune, LA Times and Parenting Magazine.

Paul Lieberman

Paul Lieberman retired from his long-standing family owned business in 2015. Started in 1910 by his grandfather, then passed on to his father, Paul kept the business thriving. “We had a reputation for being one of the most honest businesses around. Our customers knew that. You could depend on us.”

These ethics carry over into his tutoring. Paul can be counted on to be at the Bloomfield Library every Thursday morning with his faithful group of dedicated students.

It is hard to believe that Paul came to Literacy Volunteers of America as a novice. “I never taught before,” he said. “I saw the notice in the newspaper and thought it might be something I would like to do. I went to the training program and the trainer said, ‘Look, don’t be worried. You can do it.’ I have been here almost a year now and I think I got as much out of the lessons as my students. They have come along quite well,” Paul added.

Paul’s secret to his students’ progress is demanding that they speak English whenever possible. “If they have children, I encourage my students to have their children speak to them in English. For example, one student works at a nail salon in Montclair and I encourage her to ask her customers speak to her in English. This gives her practice in speaking and the clients an opportunity to feel good about themselves by helping someone. It is a win-win situation.”

Paul is as conscientious about learning as he is teaching. He is a return student in Montclair State University’s OLA (older learning adults) program, a reduced tuition program for NJ residents 65 years and older who have lived in state for 5 years or more.

Currently, he is taking classes in state and local government, constitutional law, and Middle East studies. In addition, he is in a training program to become a court advocate for domestic violence victims. “I am taking this to learn what domestic violence is, how to recognize it, and hopefully help someone who may be a victim.”

Paul’s humanitarian nature can be easily summed up. “I worked my whole life and felt there has to be more than just being employed. While it was important and provided a decent living for me and my family, I knew I wanted to do more. You want to leave some kind of legacy like maybe that you have helped someone along the way,” Paul said.

Robin Furrey

If it’s true that the themes that run through one’s life best reflect the values they treasure most, then there are several that reveal much about tutor Robin Furrey.

She was barely 16 when she hopped in a car with a cousin and a friend for a 3,400-mile drive and camping trip from her New Jersey home to Alaska in a Pontiac Le Mans. Six years later she found herself in rural Guatemala, a Peace Corps member with a forestry degree bent on teaching indigenous villagers how to reforest land in support of a potable water project. Then, after a career change landed her a position as a computer programmer in a Bloomfield petrochemical engineering firm, she volunteered for an 8-year assignment to Venezuela. Unfortunately, it was called off 13 months later by a collapse in oil prices.

So is it any surprise that, in retirement, a world traveler with a penchant for helping others would join an organization that’s helped adults from more than 100 countries learn English?

“We have a lot of fun,” Robin said of her group of students. “I love the students. They’re really excited to learn.”

A born and bred New Jersey native, Robin always had a love of the outdoors. “We always camped when I was growing up. My family never stayed in hotels.”

From a young age, Robin wanted to be a farmer but instead went to the University of Connecticut, known as a great agriculture school. There she majored in forestry and wildlife management. Reflecting on her choice to attend UCONN, she said, “Farming may not be a realistic choice for a girl from New Jersey.”

Fast forward to 1979 upon her return from her Peace Corps adventure to Guatemala. Robin found herself back in suburbia, living at her parent’s house and looking through the classifieds for a job. This marked a new adventure in Robin’s life. Robin met her soon to be husband and life long companion.

Robin interviewed for a position as a computer programmer. The senior executive put her information in the “reject” pile. However, when he saw how well she had scored on the test, he ran out into the parking lot and said, “Where is that girl?” “That girl” came back into the office, was interviewed by Ted (future husband) who was impressed with her qualifications and her Peace Corps background. He hired her in October, they went on their first date in April and by August they were married.

Although Robin’s life has taken many strange twists and turns along the way, for this Peace Corps volunteer turned computer programmer and mother of three, it has always been an adventure.

Ted Furrey

Ted Furrey welcomes adventure. And he has for years, since earning an English degree from Boston College at age 22. After school, he labored as a construction worker on demolition projects in Paterson and Newark, saved his money, and traveled the world.

In Italy he bought a car, drove through Yugoslavia and into Greece, where he left it. He took trains and buses through Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan. But when he and a travel mate landed in Lahore, West Pakistan, they were trapped. In December 1971, East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, was fully engaged in a war for independence with its government partner to the west and Ted found himself in the middle of it. “From the hotel, you could see the bombs exploding,” he said.

Another trip Ted vividly remembers came 11 years later. After studying computer programming, he took a job in the IT department of a Bloomfield engineering firm. In 1982, he and his wife, Robin, another programmer with the firm and now an LVA tutor, volunteered for a long overseas assignment in Venezuela.

While traveling to a conference on the Venezuelan coast, Ted mistakenly drove through a police checkpoint on a darkening rainforest road and was pulled over. Robin remained in the car as machine-gun toting police took Ted to a hut in the bush. They accused him of speeding, failure to stop, and demanded that he pay hundreds of dollars in cash or give up his car. As Ted struggled to negotiate in Spanish, a Colombian co-worker enroute to the same conference pulled up and helped interpret. The fine was reduced from $700 to $70.

Ted later worked in IT departments on Wall Street. He’s retired and today his adventures are more than likely to come from marathon bicycle rides with friends. And the English major-turned programmer, who once did a stint as a Paterson substitute teacher, never lost his love of language.

He learned of LVA from a former tutor, joined and has a small group of students. “I like the challenge and the sense of helping somebody,” Ted explained. “Each student learns at a different pace. The students can help one another. It is interesting to see the different types of students and how determined they are to learn English.”

Margaret Valentine

Painter, poet, and constant reader Margaret Valentine brings her widely diverse background to LVA. Now retired, this former English teacher and administrator of 30 years joined LVA in October of 2014 and has helped a variety of students ever since.

Margaret’s trade secret to working with her students is lots of positive reinforcement. “Tell them how great they are,” she said, “be honest and be specific. They need to understand exactly what it is they are doing well. Where they start and where they finish is not as important as their enthusiasm and dedication in between.” Margaret says to her current student, “You are a teacher’s dream. You don’t get discouraged.” Those words become a self -fulfilling prophecy.

Working to her student’s needs, Margaret selects material of special interest to the student. “We find books together that my student really wants to read. I ask that she read for ½ hour everyday, and then write down a response to that particular reading.” Margaret uses other techniques to develop reading skills such as modeled reading and Bananagram to encourage vocabulary and spelling.

Margaret’s student has not given up on her dream of being to able to read (with ease) the books and magazines she wants to read. It’s a dream Margaret deeply understands as reading is one of her favorite ways of being in the world. “My head lives in books,” she said. Favorite reads include literary fiction such as Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved’ and George Elliot’s ‘Middlemarch.’” When she is not reading other’s words, Margaret writes her own. A prolific poet, she is a 19 year member of an established poetry group. Margaret ran poetry workshops for teachers for years based on the Dodge Poetry model. In a nutshell, this is an appreciative model where you read, re-read and discuss poems.

Margaret has an ongoing association with other arts as well. She is a watercolor artist. Margaret enjoys painting still life and especially favors the work of John Singer Sargeant and Henri Mattisse.

Margaret also has a personal commitment to theater arts as well. With great enthusiasm, this talented grandmother of four also finds time to attend her grandchildren’s various stage productions.

Along with her love of the arts, Margaret enjoys corresponding with her former students. She told of one case, in which a former student sent her a link to a New York Times story, one that showed a photo of the student descending a flight of stairs. The building was the U.S. Supreme Court. “I love hearing about my former students’ lives,” she said.

David Baumbach

Photographer David Baumbach communicates not only with pictures but words as well. And what words he has. An LVA tutor for more than 5 years, David has worked with students from all over the globe and enjoys every minute of it.

“I like to work one on one with people so I can address their individual goals. I don’t like crowds. That is why I spent most of my life in a dark room,” David said. He has helped many students pass their citizenship test but one of his fondest memories is of a native English speaker with limited literacy skills who had never written a letter and wanted to learn how. David and Lakeva began a long history of correspondence.

“I came in with stationary, envelopes, and stamps,” David remembered. “I helped her with the format of writing and addressing a letter, and even showed her where to place the stamp. First I wrote a letter to her and she returned the gesture.” Lakeva’s skills developed and David had another technique to add to his tutoring bag of tricks. Currently he is working with a young woman from the Dominican Republic and she has recently entered employment.

A lover of the English language, when David is not holding a book, he is holding a camera. David has photographed celebrities such as Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kenneth Lonergan (most recently of Manchester-by-the-Sea fame) just to name a few. He has also photographed New York notables to include the late Ed Koch and David Dinkins.

When asked where he attended school to hone his craft, David replied, “When? I had a very dilatory career and was in and out of school. When I wasn’t in school, I was working. I had a different job every eight months. I was having success as a photographer before I went back to school.” David attended Fordham University and graduated with honors.

His path to LVA was more direct. David’s sister-in-law volunteered as an English teacher in Manhattan. “She inspired me,” he said. “I have always enjoyed teaching or volunteering. The people who come to LVA are living in very limited circumstances and if I can help students assimilate into American life in some small way, it is very rewarding.”

Larry-Reilly

Larry Reilly’s face lights up when he talks about libretto and literacy. An avid opera fan, Larry has been a subscriber to the Met for over 30 years. He sometimes incorporates opera into his tutoring sessions with his LVA students. Larry not only teaches ESOL, but cultural literacy as well. He prepares his students well to fit into life in the United States.

Larry is a quiet presence at the Bloomfield Library. He diligently walks in with his brief case, flashes a friendly smile, and then quickly gets down to business with his student who he tutors 16 hours per month. They are a well-matched pair. Larry is a giving tutor and his student is a willing learner.

After retiring from his job of 40 years as a real estate attorney, Larry joined the ranks of LVA. “I have a good friend who had been teaching English and I was very impressed with what he did. I saw your ad in a magazine and I picked up the phone and called the office,” Larry said. That was two years ago. He has faithfully volunteered ever since.

Reflecting on his students, Larry said, “I enjoy seeing people develop in their reading and comprehension. They all have a wonderful attitude and are very appreciative of what we are doing and the time we spend together.”

“Humanitarian” adequately describes Larry. He is active on the board of COPE (Counseling Outreach Prevention Education) in Montclair, which provides counseling for young adults with substance abuse and mental health issues. Currently Larry is working with them on developing a strategic plan as to how they can better serve their clients.

Another one of this compassionate tutor’s pet projects is the Job Haines Home, an assisted living, nursing home and rehab in Bloomfield. “Job Haines is also expanding and growing. Our challenge is to discover what will be needed in the future,” Larry said.

A self-described “inveterate reader,” Larry is drawn toward biographies of public-spirited individuals. He enjoys reading books by the Pulitzer Prize winning historian David McCullough and Robert Cairo. For Larry’s “light” reading, this former history major enjoys James Joyce’s “Ulysses.” Last year, his wife took him to Dublin to celebrate Bloomsday.

Most importantly for the LVA community, he brings all of these interests and enthusiasm to enrich the learning experience of his students. Not only does he instruct them in English grammar, speech, etc but he also adds richness to what they are learning—a special gift no matter how you look at it.

Karen Kirk

Karen Kirk, Tutor of the Year for Essex County, is not only dedicated as an LVA tutor, but also as a stained glass artist. She tutors two students separately for 16 hours per month, and still finds time to pursue her hobby.

Karen has been with LVA since 2011. Prior to joining the LVA family, she taught elementary school in Belleville for 40 years. “I taught generations of students. I had some students come back to me as parents, which was a lot of fun. I also taught along side of young teachers who at one time were my students. I just loved it,” she said. Karen has remained friends with a lot of her students on social media. She recently learned that one of her favorite students just joined the army and will soon be deployed to Iraq.

When asked why she left her post after a successful 40 year run, she thought about it and sighed, “I guess I finally got tired of marking papers at night and dealing with bureaucracy. I felt it was time to walk away. There were other things I wanted to do like volunteer for LVA. I had looked into it the year before I retired and realized I didn’t have the time to put into it like I wanted,” Karen said.

Karen has kept a steady stable of LVA students since she began her tenure with us. Because of their outstanding accomplishments, both of her students received awards at LVA’s recent Annual Awards Ceremony. “Tutoring is very rewarding,” Karen said. I admire the hard work my students put into reaching their goals.”

Karen spends her down time in her home studio creating sun catchers, small lamps and also takes custom orders as well. “People send me photographs of their dogs and I make a replica in glass.” Alongside her glasscutter, copper foil, and soldering iron, Karen keeps a box of Bandaids handy. “I go through at least one Bandaid per day,” she laughed.

Pierce Logan

Pierce Logan is not your typical 22 year-old. He is an entrepreneur, a teacher, a poet, and an LVA tutor. Despite his busy schedule, he finds time to work with his students 24 hours a month.

When Pierce is not at the Bloomfield library, one may find him setting up his poetry store in a park in Manhattan or in front of his local Starbucks in South Orange. This novel idea began three years ago. “In October 2013, I got the idea of a poetry store. I first set up shop in Central Park and it has blossomed,” Pierce said.

This modern day bard sets up his 1950 Smith-Corona typewriter on a weathered table and takes requests for poems from passersby. Customers choose the topic for their poem. “They tend to request poems about the people they are with, a special occasion, or something very relevant in their lives. It is a very unique interaction,” Pierce said. His satisfied customers walk away with a personalized, autographed poem, and he adds some cash to his donation jar. Pierce’s poetry can be found at his website, qwertpoetry.com.

Pierce began his love of the written word in boarding school in rural Vermont. “I learned a lot about myself there,” he said. Pierce was inspired by an English teacher that became interested in him when she found out they shared a mutual love for poetry.

Pierce was inspired by Bob Dylan, although he would have never admitted that to his parents at the time. “I grew up listening to Dylan. That is all that my father played. When you are a teenager, you don’t want to have anything to do with your parents’ music.”

Upon graduating from high school, Pierce attended community college with an concentration in international studies. Here, he became interested in other cultures. Growing up, he had a lot of friends from diverse backgrounds and that curiosity prompted him to travel to Brazil and learn Portuguese.

Pierce’s initial goal was to teach abroad, but for now he has put that on hold. Tutoring students from diverse backgrounds with LVA has temporarily satisfied that need to visit other countries. He is also a teacher at Cultural Center for Language Studies in Newark.

When asked about his future, Pierce said, “I really want to work with different communities. I am interested in language and I want to be able to help in different places. I see the Peace Corps in the future at some point.”

Jacklynn Williams

Jacklynn Williams has been a Literacy Volunteers of America tutor for over 15 years and shows no signs of stopping. As a matter of fact, she gets energized by working with her students. “It is extremely rewarding,” Jacklynn said, “and you hope you can make a difference in their lives.”

Jacklynn first became an LVA tutor right after 9/11. At the time, she was working full time as a nurse practitioner in community mental health. For 20 years, Jacklynn was employed by Visiting Nurse Services of New York both working directly with the clients and as a supervisor handling crisis services, case management and geriatric programs.

Jacklynn brings to tutoring her skills of understanding human dynamics and comfort in interpersonal relationships. This is evidenced by her students’ devotion and dedication. Jacklynn has the unique ability to help people immediately feel at ease in her presence. She stated, “People who are seeking help in literacy are very apprehensive.” She added, “In life, you are blessed if you have a few good friends to talk to.” While always making her students feel comfortable, she is cautious not to let the student/tutor relationship get intertwined. “You have to watch that the lines don’t get too blurry,” Jacklynn said.

Currently, Jacklynn has two very disparate students. One is a gainfully employed college graduate from her country and needs to further her skills in English. One is a mother of 7 children that did not have the opportunity to attend school in her native country of Liberia and consequently never learned to read or write. Jacklynn said, “Working with this population requires a tremendous amount of patience and support. You hope you can help people develop their skills.” Sadly, she notes, “Life has been determined by their literacy or lack of it.”

Jacklynn remains encouraged by the work of the LVA program and is enthused by coming to the Bloomfield Library 3 days a week to tutor her students. “I see other tutors working with the students in the library and it is very inspiring. People are giving a helping hand despite the negativity the media tends to portray,” Jacklynn said.

Rick Fairlamb

Never formally a teacher, Literacy Volunteers of America tutor Rick Fairlamb is a student of lifelong learning. He faithfully attends LVA tutor support workshops and enjoys the lively discussions spawned by both the presenters and participants. He is extremely introspective about being a tutor. One important strategy he has ascertained from other tutors is to determine the pace as to which his students can learn. “You have to set reasonable expectations for your students,” Rick said. “You never stop learning.”

Rick currently has two very disparate students; one female ESL student and one male Basic Literacy student. Between his two students, Rick’s home away from home is the Bloomfield Library. He is one of those tutors who goes above and beyond and works with his students for 16 hours per month. Hardly a day goes by that Rick does not stop by the office and greet us with his friendly smile.

Rick’s dedication and compassion for his students is unwavering. “It is heart wrenching,” he said of the difficult challenges people face. “If I could just pour my knowledge out of my head, my students would improve faster and have more opportunities.”

A former economics major, Rick is constantly measuring his own progress. “I constantly look for ways to keep lessons interesting for my students. I try to find reading material that captures my students’ interests. Of course I have to find different material as each of my students has different tastes.”

After retiring as the manager of a direct mail company, Rick joined the roster of LVA tutors in 2014. He read an article about upcoming LVA trainings in the Montclair Times. A Montclair resident, Rick lives in walking distance to the Montclair Library, but he chose to tutor in Bloomfield because it is a larger, more diverse community.

When asked how he felt about becoming a tutor, Rick said, “I thought I could do it, but I knew it might be hard. I have never trained as a teacher, I just keep trying to get better.”

Susan Craig

When Susan Craig started her second stint as a volunteer tutor for Literacy Volunteers of America she was given one student. It wasn’t enough. She asked for another, then another and then more. Susan wants to reach as many students as she can and, at LVA, that means using her teaching skills not for one student but a classroom full. “I can’t imagine a more satisfying volunteer occupation than watching students learn and grow. Teaching is akin to parenting and watching a child ride off on their two wheeled bicycle for the first time.”

Susan sees tutoring as a real privilege, not an obligation. She finds that helping her students learn to speak English can be a real confidence-booster for them as they begin to navigate their way in a new country. Susan, who has spent considerable time abroad, grew more understanding of peoples’ needs from her own personal experiences in a non-English speaking country. “One sees themself as a fully responsible adult in the United States and then finds themself as a child in their new environment. I can’t tell you how diminishing it is to not be able to understand your surroundings.”

Susan began her professional career as a social worker and later became an ESOL teacher in San Francisco. In England, where her husband’s job assignment led the couple, she taught ESL and accent reduction. “When I returned from England, I wanted to put my experience to use.”

Susan started volunteering with LVA in Passaic in 2006. She divided her time between LVA and working at Jewish Vocational Services where she worked as an ESL teacher. She recently retired from JVS and jumped into LVA where she meets a group of students every week, without fail.

Susan states her most valuable teaching technique is “show, don’t tell.” She uses lots of gestures (Total Physical Response) and draws simple stick figures on a whiteboard to convey her ideas. “I guide them,” she said, “but they have to transform their ideas into English.”