Volunteers

All persons who work with the Learning Council are volunteers. We have no paid staff. Members of the executive are elected every two years and each member accepts responsibility for a key role in the on-going activities of the council. At provincial and regional conferences these volunteers receive specific training in areas which improves their ability to do the various tasks at the local level. New people are constantly required to train as tutors, as there is a constant flow of new adults looking for assistance, and for a variety of reasons, some veteran tutors drop out. This necessitates training workshops to prepare the tutors for their new role. Therefore, some experienced tutors become "trainers" and provide the new volunteers with specific instruction in the Laubach Way to Reading and all other programs. The basic tutor workshop provides the potential tutor with excellent preparation for his new role in adult literacy. Our aim is to provide "one on one" tutoring for any adult who asks for assistance. This requires a stable coordinated system in order that the person seeking help can receive it quickly with a minimum of waiting and red tape. The MRLC has provided this program for over twenty years.

A typical volunteer from the Regional Moncton Learning Council:
PAULINE AUBIN-SHAW

Pauline became involved in the Laubach program when she accepted the position of volunteer Office Manager in April 1997 for the GMLC (now MRLC). She went to the literacy office at the NBCC every Tuesday and Thursday for about two hours each day. Her main task was to receive all the phone messages from prospective students, prospective tutors, tutors needing books, and a variety of other concerns. Some calls were directed to the appropriate person for subsequent action; other calls required the searching out of information and returning the call or mailing out material as required. Ordering books from the Distribution Center was another duty that needed constant monitoring.

Pauline was very much the center of a three way communication with the Student-Tutor Coordinator, the Statistition, and the Literacy Coordinator at the NBCC. They formed the nerve center of our on-going literacy program in the area. She seemed to communicate very well with each person and a very efficient exchange of information was available. This meant that there were no long delays in getting students matched with appropriate tutors. She was a key person in the operation of an effective literacy program.

In the spring of 1998 Pauline was asked to take on the additional job of secretary to the GMLC. She did so willingly and her efforts were appreciated by the council. She held this position for two years.

During her time on the council she has attended the LLNB AGM in Saint John in October 1998, the LLC Conference in Ottawa '99, and was on the organizing committee of the LLNB AGM '99 in Moncton.

Pauline has been a willing and able volunteer and has always been ready to help out with phone calls, mail outs, photocopies, registrations, and a variety of other duties required at the Christmas Banquet, at training workshops, meetings, and various Public Relations functions. Her countless small but very important contributions have helped to keep the MRLC an effective and efficient organization.