PULASKI, NY – When Holly Pacyon, a senior at Pulaski High School, chose to apply for the school’s coveted John Ben Snow Academic Achievement Scholarship they had no idea that the research she did would lead to a project that would have a long lasting impact on the Village of Pulaski community.
The John Ben Snow Scholarship is awarded to four seniors that rank in the top third of the graduating class. One of the requirements to be considered for the scholarship is to complete a community service project. While researching ideas for the community project Pacyon discovered Literacy Volunteers of Oswego County.
“Poverty is a huge barrier that prevents them from being successful,” Pacyon said. “When I learned that approximately 70% of adults with literacy skills less than or equal to a 5th grade level are at or below the poverty line I decided to focus my community project on the adult literacy needs in our community.”
Pacyon reached out to ProLiteracy in Syracuse to find the closest chapters of literacy volunteers in their area.
“When I discovered Literacy Volunteers of Oswego County my initial thought was that I’m grateful that people give of their free time to help people,” Pacyon said. “Most people will do almost anything to help children, but it takes a real soul to aid adults and have the patience to teach literacy skills.”
After meeting with Program Coordinator for OCO Literacy Volunteers Meg Henderson, and learning more about the Literacy Volunteers program, they decided their community service project would be to host a Literature for Literacy book sale to benefit Literacy Volunteers. They launched a community wide drive to collect books.
“One of the greatest things about Pulaski is the fact that when it comes to a good cause everyone is willing to rally behind you,” they said. “Hundreds of books were donated. We had everything from memoirs to The Magic Treehouse and the Twilight series. There was something for everyone. Pulaski is a very supportive community and I am grateful to everyone that donated books and for everyone who came to the event to buy books.”
While hundreds of books were collected, one donation was very special.
“When Holly contacted me I was impressed by their interest in Literacy Volunteers,” Henderson said. “I told them about Ruth Colvin, the founder of Literacy Volunteers of America, and suggested they reach out to her to learn more about Literacy Volunteers. When they did, Ruth was kind enough to send Holly an autographed copy of one of her books. Holly was excited to receive it and have the opportunity to speak with Ruth.”
Pacyon’s Literature for Literacy raised more than $325 for Literacy Volunteers and more importantly, helped to raise awareness of the program.
“I want everyone, especially those that are retired and love helping people, to know that they can become a literacy volunteer,” Pacyon said. “People are constantly ready to support children and even animals in need, but it’s the people who acknowledge that adults are people who need assistance from time to time who have the strongest willpower. I am grateful to have learned about LVOC, it was fate. Otherwise I would have never known about them, and this is something everyone should be aware of.”
A program of Oswego County Opportunities (OCO), Literacy Volunteers provides one-to-one tutoring to adults seeking assistance in reading and math so that they may gain employment or pass the high school equivalency exam. Tutors also provide tutoring to adults from other countries that are learning to speak English. To learn more about Literacy Volunteers of Oswego County visit www.oco.org.
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