AUBURN - Readers perused rows of novels Wednesday while listening to music students perform in the Willard Chapel's apse.
Jason Rearick / The Citizen
Mildred Carter looks over the selection of books during the Literacy Volunteers of Cayuga County book sale at Willard Chapel Wednesday morning. Each Wednesday throughout July and August Literacy Volunteers will hold a book sale at Willard Chapel, coinciding with the summer concert series held in the chapel.
Mildred Carter looks over the selection of books during the Literacy Volunteers of Cayuga County book sale at Willard Chapel Wednesday morning. Each Wednesday throughout July and August Literacy Volunteers will hold a book sale at Willard Chapel, coinciding with the summer concert series held in the chapel.
Literacy Volunteers of Cayuga County, Inc. offers a series of book sales during July and August that overlap with the Willard Chapel Tiffany Summer Concert Series conducted at the same time. Musician Bob Piorun and participants from his Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center workshops kicked off the first concert.
The music drifted through the chapel's open door and echoed down the hallways where folding tables and carts carried the books, including paperbacks, children's books and hardcovers.
While volunteers usually are nearby in the Literacy Office in Willard Chapel, the book sale operates under the honor code. Buyers can slip their quarters or dollar bills into the slits on tops of the canisters perched on the tables.
“Well, the way I see it, even if they steal a book, they'll read it,” said Elisa Hunt, Literacy Volunteer's executive director.
The street value for a 10-year-old paperback isn't really worth too much, she added.
Often, people will fill a bag at the sale and return after they've gone through their supplies. Many of the regulars donate the books back to the organization, Hunt said.
The money benefits the nonprofit organization, but also helps to encourage residents to read, Hunt said.
“People love to read,” Hunt said. “Even if you go to a discount store, a paperback could be $6 and if you buy a couple a week, that adds up.”
The organization is there to help people find that love for reading by improving basic literacy.
The 44-year-old agency has about 105 volunteers, including Board of Education members, mentors, and tutor trainers, and 110 clients.
Tutors assist learners in studying for tests for a GED, or job-related commercial driver's license, or nursing aide. Those two exams are for jobs that do not require a high school diploma, so people can go from minimum wage jobs to higher paying ones, Hunt said.
Volunteers also offer programs to teach English as a second language.
Hunt stepped into her role as executive director when her daughter was in fifth grade, which is the reading level the agency aims to bring their students' abilities up to, and hopefully beyond.
“My daughter was a phenomenal reader, but does that mean she could read want ads, prescription bottles, cooking directions, doctor's notes? No, she couldn't,” Hunt said.
She hopes to see more people reading because children imitate what their parents do.
“We can break the cycle of illiteracy,” Hunt said.
Staff writer Jessica Soule can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 267 or jessica.soule@lee.net
If You Go
What: Book sale to benefit the Literacy
Volunteers of Cayuga County, Inc.
Where: Willard Chapel, 17 Nelson St. in Auburn
When: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays in July and August
Cost: 50 cents for a paperback, $1 for a hardcover, and $3 per bag
The music drifted through the chapel's open door and echoed down the hallways where folding tables and carts carried the books, including paperbacks, children's books and hardcovers.
While volunteers usually are nearby in the Literacy Office in Willard Chapel, the book sale operates under the honor code. Buyers can slip their quarters or dollar bills into the slits on tops of the canisters perched on the tables.
“Well, the way I see it, even if they steal a book, they'll read it,” said Elisa Hunt, Literacy Volunteer's executive director.
The street value for a 10-year-old paperback isn't really worth too much, she added.
Often, people will fill a bag at the sale and return after they've gone through their supplies. Many of the regulars donate the books back to the organization, Hunt said.
The money benefits the nonprofit organization, but also helps to encourage residents to read, Hunt said.
“People love to read,” Hunt said. “Even if you go to a discount store, a paperback could be $6 and if you buy a couple a week, that adds up.”
The organization is there to help people find that love for reading by improving basic literacy.
The 44-year-old agency has about 105 volunteers, including Board of Education members, mentors, and tutor trainers, and 110 clients.
Tutors assist learners in studying for tests for a GED, or job-related commercial driver's license, or nursing aide. Those two exams are for jobs that do not require a high school diploma, so people can go from minimum wage jobs to higher paying ones, Hunt said.
Volunteers also offer programs to teach English as a second language.
Hunt stepped into her role as executive director when her daughter was in fifth grade, which is the reading level the agency aims to bring their students' abilities up to, and hopefully beyond.
“My daughter was a phenomenal reader, but does that mean she could read want ads, prescription bottles, cooking directions, doctor's notes? No, she couldn't,” Hunt said.
She hopes to see more people reading because children imitate what their parents do.
“We can break the cycle of illiteracy,” Hunt said.
Staff writer Jessica Soule can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 267 or jessica.soule@lee.net
If You Go
What: Book sale to benefit the Literacy
Volunteers of Cayuga County, Inc.
Where: Willard Chapel, 17 Nelson St. in Auburn
When: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays in July and August
Cost: 50 cents for a paperback, $1 for a hardcover, and $3 per bag
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