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The Igniting Superhero Readers Summer Camp is rocking it!
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Photo of TD Bank employees who volunteered to teach financial literacy to our interns
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📚 A study completed by the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) showed that, on average, children in 3rd to 5th grades lose about 20% of their school-year gains in reading and 27% in math during summer break. These losses add up over the years and can be detrimental to students’ overall learning. 😕
To combat this, our Youth Literacy interns have been working one-on-one with students on ELA skills at three different sites. ✏️🧠
This summer, we have 32 interns! 🙌 Along with tutoring experience, our interns also gain practical knowledge by participating in professional development days. 🧑🏫 They have learned financial literacy, professional writing, and more from generous volunteers such as employees at TD Bank and Molly Varley (thank you! 💙)
Whether they’re reading books together or playing educational games, both the interns and the students have enjoyed learning more about each other and the world around them!
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“Every child deserves more than survival; they deserve to be seen, heard, and ignited.”
Damien Cortez-Gomez, 2025 Igniting Superhero Readers Summer Camp intern 😍
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A heartfelt thank you to TD Bank—not only for volunteering time to teach financial literacy to our interns, but for being one of our sponsors and such incredible champions of literacy. Literacy Together truly appreciates your continued support and generosity!
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Finally, a great way to keep your students engaged at home is to make it fun! There are numerous online resources that turn age-appropriate academics into interactive games. A few sites we recommend are:
📚 Scholastic Home Base - Scholastic Home Base is a safe, free, and moderated digital world that celebrates your favorite stories through book-based games, live author events, and creativity.
📚 FUNBRAIN - Games, videos, and books for students from pre-K ages and up!
📚 PBS Kids - Games revolving around your favorite PBS characters. Specifically great for science enthusiasts.
📚 Prodigy - Adventure-style math game whose difficulty level grows as your child improves.
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National Book Lover's Day Fair and Spelling 🐝
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Literacy Together and Read to Succeed are celebrating National Book Lovers' Day at The River Arts District Brewing Company with cold brews, cozy vibes, and a spelling showdown you won't forget! 🐝📖
📅 When: Friday, August 9th
🕐 Time: 1:00 PM – 8:00 PM
📍 Where: The River Arts District Brewing Company
📫 13 Mystery Street, Asheville, NC 28801
🎉 What's Happening?
✨ Artisan Market
📚 Book Swap
🎟️ Raffle
🔤 Adult Spelling Bee
The raffle and the spelling bee proceeds benefit Literacy Together and Read To Succeed.
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During the crisis our communities faced after Hurricane Helene, it became clear that language was a significant barrier to understanding available resources and how to access them.
At a recent orientation meeting, one attendee, Lauren, shared how her experience volunteering after the storm made her realize just how important it is to speak English. 💬🤝
Here’s her powerful testimonial. Thank you for sharing, Lauren! 🙏✨
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I worked with a grassroots organization post-Hurricane Helene. One of the key ways we provided relief was distribution of necessary supplies through our warehouse. We provided people supplies in a variety of ways, but one way was through people coming into our warehouse and picking out what they needed. Many of the families that came to our warehouse were Latinx, and as one of the Spanish speakers on staff, I had the opportunity to engage with many of the families and to help them navigate our warehouse. In addition to helping them navigate the warehouse, I also chatted with the families in regard to other resources they or their community members may need to recover post-hurricane. In working with these families and helping them navigate resources during a time of stress, it made me realize just how important language access is. While I am an advocate for making resources more accessible by providing translators and making sure information is available in multiple languages, I do think empowering immigrants to take language access into their own hands is also important.
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A heartfelt thank you to the WNC Bridge Foundation for investing in our Youth Literacy Program! 💙📖 This partnership enables us to create more opportunities to bridge the opportunity gap in Buncombe County and continue fulfilling our mission: to transform lives and communities through the power of literacy. ✨📚🌍
We also extend our gratitude to the Dollar General Literacy Foundation for awarding us two grants to help strengthen our literacy efforts, including the 2025 summer literacy grant. The funding received will support our 30+ interns, who are working with students from all over Buncombe County in multi-sensory literacy instruction 🌞 🙏🏼
Our Adult Literacy and ESOL programs were named as 2025 Proliteracy National Book Fund grant recipients! The books we received from ProLiteracy are already in the hands of students 📚
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¡Feliz (belated) Día del Amigo!
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For Argentine dentist Enrique Ernesto Febbraro, the moon landing on July 20, 1969, was such a powerful symbol of global unity that he proposed that date be celebrated as Friendship Day 🇦🇷🌕🚀
For Febbraro, the image of the American astronauts walking on the Moon—and the way people everywhere were united in watching it—represented the most profound meaning of friendship 💛 🌎
Día del Amigo was officially recognized on February 20, 1979. Since then, every July 20, Argentinians of all ages fill cafés and restaurants, exchange gifts, and celebrate friendship—one of life’s most beautiful treasures 🎁 ☕️ 🍽️
Thanks to Laura, our Argentine team member, who introduced us to this wonderful celebration! 🫂
🎉 Fun fact: Laura started working at Literacy Together on July 20, 2020, on Día del Amigo! Last year, she celebrated the holiday with her friends in Buenos Aires, eating the famous chocotorta 🍰—her favorite cake! 😋
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| Do you love Literacy Together? Please leave us a review!
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If you've volunteered with us, worked with us, or believe in our mission, we'd love your support with a quick review on these platforms:
📍 Google
📍 Facebook
📍 VolunteerMatch (you might need to create an account if you don't have one)
Thank you for being part of the Literacy Together family! Every review makes a difference. 🙌✨
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Please help us spread the word about our need for volunteers 🙏🏼
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Our ESOL Program has a waiting list of over 70 people, some of whom have been waiting months for a tutor! We host two monthly orientation meetings. This month, we welcomed participants from Georgia, California, and Buncombe County! This is what one participant said after the meeting:
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Thank you all for making people feel welcome in their new home. Even if they didn't learn a word of English, there would still be value in extending that hand to them. Though I've lived abroad the past 10ish years, one thing I carry with me is the belief that many Americans are warm, compassionate people who love making others feel welcome, and I've tried to carry that identity with me wherever I am. It's really encouraging to see things like this program, so thank you for what you do!
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| Upcoming Online Orientation Meetings
Tuesday, August 12th, 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Thursday, August 14th, 10:00 am - 11:00 am
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We now have wine glasses, infant bodysuits, and adult-sized versions of our beloved worm shirt—grab yours! 🛍️✨
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| Your generosity provides literacy services to our neighbors of every age.
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