Literacy program sponsors book swap

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February 14, 2010

BY AMY LONG The Commercial-News Sun Feb 14, 2010, 06:48 PM CST

DANVILLE — Looking for a good book to read? Tired of reading the same old book? Then come to the Village Mall on Saturday for the Reader’s Route third annual Book Swap.

This event is sponsored by The Reader’s Route Adult Literacy Project at Danville Area Community College. The swap will take place at the DACC office in the Village Mall (across from Hallmark) from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

DACC already has started collecting books for the event. Gently used books, in good condition can be donated. Topics include biographies, fiction, nonfiction, cookbooks, novels, paperbacks, hard covers, etc., but no textbooks.

Books can be dropped off at the DACC office at the Village Mall or by going to Prairie Hall, Room 114 on the DACC campus.

For every book donated, the donor will receive a ticket toward a book during the swap, for a maximum of six tickets.

All books at this event can be purchased for $1. All proceeds will go to purchasing supplies and materials for The Reader’s Route.

According to Louise Free, “Some students never have had the joy of reading a book like we have.”

Free got the idea of a book swap by talking to someone who had done a similar swap in the St. Louis area. She thought this was a good idea because The Reader’s Route focused on reading. She brought this event up to colleagues and received permis-sion to go ahead with the event.

“People seem to love it,” Free said.

One of her colleagues, Scott Heatherton, said he was a skeptic at first, but he has been “pleasantly surprised” at the previous turnouts.

The Reader’s Route Adult Literacy Project is part of the Adult Education program at DACC. It is funded by both the Illinois Secretary of State and the Illinois Community College board. The program has roughly 150 adult students. It matches volunteer tutors with the students to provide help in learning how to read, tutoring in math and help with obtaining GED certificates. Some of the students come to the program unable to read a medicine bottle or their power bill.

This is the program’s 25th year of service.

TO HELP

Anyone interested in becoming a tutor with the Reader’s Route Adult Literacy Program should call Scott Heatherton at 443-8785 or Louise Free at 443-8868 for more information.

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