Hollister
– When Diane Leverich volunteered as a reading tutor at the San
Benito Free Library in August, there were no tutors, no budget and
no formal program.
Hollister – When Diane Leverich volunteered as a reading tutor at the San Benito Free Library in August, there were no tutors, no budget and no formal program.
Instead, it was just Leverich and her conviction that work needed to be done. When asked why she volunteered for a program that didn’t even exist yet, Leverich said many people don’t understand that literacy is essential.
“If you’re literate, you take it for granted,” Leverich said. “But if you can’t read, how are you going to get a job?”
Leverich said she volunteered and was trained as an adult reading tutor when she lived in Santa Clara County. When she moved to San Benito, Leverich said she was stunned to discover that the library’s literacy program had been dormant for several years.
Since Leverich first started tutoring, County Librarian Nora Conte has revived the literacy program, and she’s even corralled Leverich into training and coordinating the other tutors. But Leverich still teaches, working week after week to improve Kazumi Ito’s English.
Ito said moving to Hollister from Japan has been struggle, and that Leverich has been crucial in helping her get used to the United States.
“My children are in kindergarten, and I thought we could learn English at the same time,” Ito said.
Leverich’s help extends far beyond reading books. Ito said that after watching television, she writes down new words for Leverich to explain, and that Leverich helped translate a note Ito’s son received at school. Ito said they’ve even gone on a trip to Safeway to learn how to shop.
“She teaches me how to live here,” Ito said.
Although there’s more to her work than books, Leverich said it was passion for reading that first got her interested in literacy. Leverich said that when she was a child, she went to the library every week and came back with a big stack of books.
“I’m a born reader,” Leverich said. “I emerged from the womb with a book.”
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
