The Citizen staff report

The ability to read a book just for the pleasure of reading is something many people take for granted.

Literacy Volunteers of Cayuga County is hoping to use people's love of reading to help those who have trouble making sense of the printed word.

A summer book sale being held in conjunction with the seasonal concert series at Willard Chapel in Auburn is helping raise money for Literacy Volunteers.

Literacy tutor Mary Balch said the program offers two distinct services: Helping adults who aren't able to read as well as they would like to; and English as a Second Language, for people who primarily speak and write a language other than English.

Basic literacy tutoring can be helpful, Balch said, for people working on their General Equivalency Diploma or for seniors who need to be able to read and understand instructions on prescription medications.

In the ESL program, tutors work with many Chinese immigrants and seasonal farmworkers.

"We have students from Russia, Italy, Israel," Balch said. "People from all over the world come in."

And because the number of people seeking help is steady, volunteer tutors are always being sought. Tutors need only be 18 years old and have a high school diploma to be shown how to teach others to read.

Literacy Volunteers holds annual book sales in February and another Christmastime, but the summer sale is the most extensive, running every Wednesday through the summer, and is an important fundraiser for the agency.

The agency's youngest volunteer, Sarah Norton, 13, has been helping out this summer with setting up and taking down the books for each week's sale.