"I used to rely on my husband to read things to me. Now I can read my work bulletin board, newspapers, and my Bible. I'm planning to take the Certified Nurses Assistant Exam in January and eventually get my GED."
— Betty A.
Volunteer Spotlight
Literacy Volunteers of the Lowcountry will be spotlighting a special volunteer from time to time. Ruth Brenner is our first in this article by another wonderful tutor, Joe Distelheim.
Ruth Brenner and her husband went to a 25th birthday party in October.
Nothing unusual in that, except that Ruth, who lives in Sun City, is somewhat past 25, and that she dressed up in boots and cowboy hat (it was Halloween), and that “we were the only non-Hispanics there.”
“We were made to feel so welcome,” she says. “It was the best house party I’ve ever been to.”
The birthday honoree was one of the students Ruth Brenner teaches two evenings a week at St. Francis By The Sea Catholic Church, where she is an English as a second language tutor with Literacy Volunteers of the Lowcountry. The invitation speaks to the ties she forms with her students, and they with each other.
It’s not by accident. For the first several weeks each year, her students start each class by talking about themselves, their lives, their families. “We do this constantly, so they get in the habit of speaking English in front of their peers.”
As a result, “we bond as a class, and make a commitment to the class by knowing each other better.”
Ruth retired to Beaufort County with her husband, Jim Zeller, from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where she was a Realtor. “I’m a ‘half-back,’” she jokes – she’s originally from New York. She’s known for 20 years that she wanted to work as a literacy volunteer, and neighbor Betty Newman, who’s in charge of LVL’s Hardeeville teaching site, got her into the program three years ago. She teaches an advanced class, stressing reading, writing and comprehension.
And why not teach closer to home and avoid the nearly 40-mile round trip to St. Francis?
“They didn’t have evenings,” she says. “Daytimes, I’m just too busy with all my activities in Sun City – bike riding, yoga, pickle ball, book club….”
Her LVL teaching, Ruth says, is “the highlight of my week.” She notes the national controversy over immigration, and says, “In my own little way, I try to make a little change.”
She admires her students. “They work all day, they work hard, they have kids and they come to class because they value education.
“Most of the people I meet are like me. When I go to Hilton Head to this class, I meet young people, people from different backgrounds. I feel like I’m part of the world.”
