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Kathryn Bornhauser, Literacy Services Coordinator, thanks volunteers.

Blanchard Community Library’s FLAIR Literacy Program National Volunteer Week

May 04, 2007
Santa Paula News
By Susan Branham Santa Paula TimesThe students and staff of Blanchard Community Library’s FLAIR Literacy Program found National Volunteer Week the perfect time to say “thank you” to their tutors for their hard work and dedication. “Our students coordinated the event,” Kathryn Bornhauser, Literacy Services Coordinator, explained. “They all wanted to show their appreciation. We have more than ninety students.”Volunteers were recognized individually and collectively for their contributions to the students and to the library. “You really are in our hearts,” Kathryn Bornhauser said. “You mean a lot to us all, to the students and the staff. We are always thinking of you in a positive way.”FLAIR tutors provide adults with instruction in reading, writing and speaking English. FLAIR tutor Juan Corona Jr. was recognized for his many contributions to the program. Juan has been with FLAIR a little more than a year, and tutors five students.Thomas Patton works in the Library’s Homework Center as a tutor. “He works both one-on-one and with groups of students after school,” Kathryn said. “He is very dedicated and makes a big difference in the children’s lives.”“Barry Cooper is a professional guitarist,” said Kathryn. “He volunteered after moving to Santa Paula. He performed on his guitar at our December awards program.” Kathryn also thanked Dora Crouch for her many contributions to FLAIR. “She is a great supporter of the program,” she told the guests.
“Roseanne Jones is a volunteer who is gifted musician, and who performs for the children,” Kathryn said. “She brings her keyboard and performs classical music written from children’s literature.”The guests viewed a video illustrating the positive influence one life can have. It featured Gandhi and Mother Teresa and others who have made the world a better place. “We want to dedicate that video to all of you tonight,” announced Kathryn. “We dedicate it to you volunteers.”Volunteers were each given the CD “Songs Inspired by Literature, Chapter One,” featuring Artists for Literacy. The music was inspired by literature such as “Ulysses” by James Joyce and John Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath.”Each volunteer also received a reminder which read: “One-hundred years from now …it will not matter what my bank account was, the type of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove, but the world may be different because I was a volunteer.”