Wood County Literacy Council continues to train volunteers

Literacy Council of Wood County, Inc., and literacy agencies across Wisconsin recruited and trained 817 volunteer tutors during Wisconsin Literacy's 10th annual 1200 Tutors in 12 Weeks campaign Sept. 8 through Dec. 1, according to a news release from the organization. The Wood County chapter trained 17 new volunteer tutors during this year's campaign and helped the Marathon County Literacy Council train seven additional tutors.

Since 2003, the campaign has successfully trained 8,161 new volunteer literacy tutors and helped raise awareness about the demand for adult literacy services, according to the news release. Dollar General Foundation, Verizon, American Family Insurance, We Energies and Alliant Energy Foundation sponsor the 12-week campaign.

A survey completed by Wisconsin Literacy's member agencies revealed volunteer tutors provided nearly 200,000 hours of service to more than 8,000 adult learners at community-based literacy agencies across the state in 2011-12. Currently, more than 700 adults remain on waiting lists for literacy services. There are 12 adults on the Wood County chapter's waiting list.