The Literacy Letter

Summer 2025

Message from the Leadership Team

Hello LVSC Friends,

At our recent Annual Meeting & Recognition Event, we celebrated "Strength in Community." LVSC’s year ends on June 30^th and we had much to celebrate:

600+ students served from more than 50 countries!
200+ volunteers provided more than 6,000 hours of volunteer service – a $209,000 value!
Expanded services to beginner-level students through a community-wide partnership – 11 classes and 14 small groups reaching 175+ students in underserved communities.
Increased tutor support by hiring a Tutor Support Manager and expanding our Student Success Center Lending Library.
Received statewide recognition from Literacy NJ with the Alice M. Leppert Award for Outstanding Achievement.
And so much more! Please take a moment to read the full Director’s report.

Read the Director's Annual Report

While the mood of our meeting was uplifting, we also recognized that these are challenging times for many people and for many different reasons. We are saddened by negative actions impacting immigrant communities and nonprofits. The current climate hurts the people we care about -- our beloved and brave students, friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers -- and the organizations we cherish.

Recent government funding cuts hurt nonprofits like LVSC. Thanks to the past support of very generous funders and committed donors, we ended our year in a strong and stable financial position. However, our state funding was not renewed for the coming year. At the same time our partners have canceled or paused their free ESL classes when their federal funding was withheld or eliminated. With this significant reduction in free ESL instruction, we anticipate even higher demand for our services but significantly less funding to run our programs.

Despite the challenges of these times, we remain unwavering in our commitment to teaching students and supporting our immigrant community. We are dedicated to preserving our organization and providing a meaningful volunteer experience. To accomplish these goals we must continue working together and find strength in our kind and caring community.

We have many amazing volunteers who make a big difference every single day; we have chosen to highlight a few in this edition of The Literacy Letter. We hope you find it inspiring.

With gratitude,

Aimee Lam, Executive Director

Scott Curtis, Board President

P.S. If you are feeling a need to do something positive, please consider a donation, become a tutor or encourage someone to become a tutor, and refer students for services. And don't forget our September 8th Golf Fore Literacy fundraising event - have fun while raising funds!

Make a Donation

The Impact of LVSC Services

Cristina worked with tutor Pat Flannery to improve her English skills and tutor Allison Caulfield to prepare for the Naturalization test and interview. Success! Today she is a brand new U.S. citizen! Says Cristina, "I am very grateful to the tutors who helped me in this process to be able to achieve a goal I longed for. May God bless you all, excellent people with a kind heart."

Read Our Impact Report

Annual Meeting & Recognition Event

At our June Annual Meeting and Recognition Night we celebrated the 200 volunteers and 600+ students who participated in our programs this past year. We thanked our community partners and generous donors. We heard inspiring success stories and enjoyed the camaraderie of the LVSC community.

See More Pictures

2025 Award Recipients

Student of the Year:

Bebi Hassan

Bebi came to LVSC because she knew it was essential to learn to read and write for her children, her daily activities, and for achieving her long-term goals of finding a job and becoming a U.S. citizen. Through hard work and dedication she became a U.S. citizen and has learned to write texts to her children.

Tutor of the Year:

Pam Lavroff

Pam came to LVSC when she found herself an empty nester. Still a full-time teacher, she thought LVSC would make a good fit. Pam learned to use Burlington English, a digital curriculum to reach students most in need: beginners. She taught her small group of students the basics, and integrated practical skills: like taking the group out to dinner to practice ordering from a menu.

Volunteer of the Year:

Pam Lester

A tutor since 2019, Pam is also a dedicated assessor, substitute tutor, and attendee at many of our events. She has worked with basic literacy students, beginner-level students, and even taught a landscaping crew during the quiet winter months.

Community Partner Award:

Father Louis A. Mattina and Our Lady of Mount Virgin Church

When the Bound Brook library closed in October 2023, LVSC struggled to find a location to serve our many Bound Brook students. Father Mattina rose to the occasion, offering classroom space in his church’s school building.

Martha Davis Award for Outstanding Service:

Yvonne Selander

Yvonne has been a dedicated board member and supporter since 2016. For the past eight years she served as recording secretary. Through her advocacy efforts she has procured learning materials for students and event sponsorships. She enthusiastically attends all LVSC events and is always available to lend a helping hand.

Alma C. Liotta Award for Excellence: Tho Ngo

Tho joined the board in 2016. Treasurer for six years, Tho enhanced the treasurer role during the pandemic by providing analytics which helped us navigate uncertainty and plan for the future. He also started the Golf Fore Literacy fundraiser. Now in its 9th year, Golf Fore Literacy has raised more than $75,000 to support adult literacy.

Milestone Years of Service

LVSC asks tutors to dedicate one year to tutoring – and that is a big ask. But many volunteers hit that one year and fly past it, either working with the same student, or with multiple students, or taking on new roles. We are thrilled to honor members of our community who have hit milestone years of service this year, and by doing so have demonstrated a dedication to LVSC students and the greater LVSC community.

5 years of service:

Rick Austin
Janet Billey
Rachel Drascher
Robert Giurlando
Leslie Heilberg
Jeanne Hertrich
Vina Koota
Galina Kurchuk (9 years)*
Kathy Marceski
Jim McCloud (9 years)*
Tho Ngo (9 years)*
Wendy Pia
Christine Renz
Kala Sivasubramanian
June Tamburro
Maureen Wilson

10 years of service:

Phil Armenio (14 years)*
Lydia Masterson
Susan Pristas
Mary Riccardi
Silvia Sorace

15 years of service:

Kathy England
Amy Jones
Paula Reid (19 years)*

20 years of service:

Margaret Kiddoe
Jennifer Kushinka

*Catch-up awards. These individuals reached their milestone year before we started giving out milestone awards. So, we did a little catching up this year!

Our Newest Tutors

Welcome to the Spring 2025 Tutor Training Class (pictured): 23 new tutors matched with 27 students from 16 different countries. Summer training is in full swing, with 23 new tutors ready to begin their LVSC journey in August.

Thank you all for sharing your time and talent with LVSC!

We are continuously training new tutors to keep up with student need. Do you know someone who would like to be an LVSC tutor? Please refer them to LVSC.

Become a Tutor

Recent Tutors of the Month

Our Tutor of the Month program highlights the engaging ways that different volunteers teach English. Each of our volunteers is special, meet five of them.

Doreen Ladinski

March 2025

Doreen is a retired high school English teacher who never stopped teaching. She is still a substitute teacher and has tutored numerous students since she started with LVSC in 2019. Doreen takes great pride in her students’ accomplishments and helps them with tasks such as understanding U.S. currency and taking and passing proficiency tests.

Jim Reilly

April 2025

Jim is helping his student succeed in the workplace by reviewing and practicing conversations with co-workers and customers. Because his student works in the frozen foods department of a grocery store, they review names of foods and products in other departments so the student can understand and answer customers’ questions.

Janet Billey

May 2025

Janet has been tutoring since 2019. She starts each session by allowing her students to talk freely about their previous week, activities and families. Janet also has her students keep a daily journal so they can review grammar and sentence structure. When her current student was able to confidently communicate with her doctor without using a translator, Janet was especially proud.

Linda Conroy

June 2025

As an employee in the surgical healthcare field, Linda was matched with a student who was a critical care nurse in her native Chile and is working toward becoming a certified nurse in the U.S. Their lessons focus on medical terminology and conversations around healthcare. Linda’s student practices written English by taking stances and offering opinions on news stories and arts and culture reviews.

Christopher Yen

July 2025

Christopher’s student has come a long way since they started working together in the fall of 2024. Because Alejo is a guitarist, he wants to be able to introduce his songs in English, so they’ve been focusing on pronunciation and idioms. Alejo also got a job as a crossing guard, so lessons focus on English small talk with students and parents. Most recently he was offered a full-time music teaching position, complete with benefits!

LVSC staff members were honored to receive the Alice M. Leppert Award for Outstanding Affiliate Achievement at Literacy NJ's annual conference. We are grateful for the recognition and had a fun day learning with fellow adult literacy practitioners across the state.

Garden of Literacy Recap

In March we hosted our 6th Annual Garden of Literacy Brunch & Baskets event at the Olde Mill Inn in Basking Ridge. Thanks to the support of our sponsors, guests, volunteers, and prize donors, we raised nearly $19,000 for LVSC's free literacy programs. A new record!

See How it Went

Different Ways to Help

Give the Gift of Literacy

You can honor a student, volunteer, or someone special with a donation and you will be sharing the gift of literacy!

One-time donations help us train new tutors, serve more students, support our volunteers, and grow our programs.

One-Time Donation

Monthly donations support crucial behind-the-scenes expenses: staff, office space, internet, and phones.

Monthly Donation

Golf Fore Literacy

LVSC's 9th Annual Golf Outing

September 8, 2025

Neshanic Valley Golf Course

If you golf -- please join us!

If you are golf curious -- join our Beginner Clinic!

Don't like golf -- join us for dinner and drinks!

Have friends who golf -- spread the word about our event!

Know a potential sponsor -- share our sponsorship information!

Golf for Literacy Information/Registration

Community Immigration Workshop (Virtual)

Immigration 101: Understanding the U.S. Immigration System

Presented by LVSC Board Member and Immigration Attorney,

Snehal Batra, Esq.

Thursday, September 18, 2025 on Zoom

Immigration issues are constantly in the news. It is important that people have access to accurate information, but unfortunately, there is an ongoing spread of misinformation. Here is your chance to hear from a trusted immigration attorney and get your questions answered.

For more information, click here