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Partners in
English Language Learning
Spring/
Summer 2011
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Spring/Summer 2011
Our Mission Statement
We help English language learners become thriving members of our community by offering one-on-one English
language tutoring, and building bridges that foster cross-cultural respect, understanding, and friendship.
Letter from Myra Arstein, Board President
percent of our learners are within the age group of 20
– 40 years of age and have minor children attending
local schools. Having parents being able to
communicate effectively with school teachers and
their respective children has a huge impact on their
children’s success.
Spring is bountiful here in Nevada County, as is the
support we have experienced this year through the
efforts of so many within our community. We are
truly blessed with the generosity we have received
through the efforts of our volunteers and their giving
of time, expertise, energy, and the contributions of inkind donations and funding we have received from all
who support this much needed program.
Inside this
issue:
Model of
Humanity
2
Donors
2
Success
Stories
3
Calendar
4
Board of Directors
President
Myra Arstein
Vice-President
Joanne Weatherly
Secretary
Nancy Guenther
Treasurer
Kathy Mollet
Directors
Louise Beesley
Tod Buis
Judi Kreinick
Susan Murai
Bev Stout
Coordinator
Donna Cobb
English
language gives
each individual
the voice to be
heard in our
community.
This year, I see my role as President of our
organization being a transitional one in which our
organization, having had much success meeting our
Mission, will continue stretching beyond our comfort
zone and to explore the possibilities of expanding our
services to meet the growing needs of our
community. We will continue our collaborative efforts
with organizations such as The Family Resource
Centers, DVSAC (Domestic Violence and Sexual
Assault Coalition), First Five, Adult Education, and
other local non-profits, where we fill a need for
personalized adult education of English language
learners.
Our volunteers have aided many of our students to
fulfill their personal goals. We have had 3 of our
students study and complete USA citizenship
certification through their diligent work effort with our
one-on-one tutoring methods. We have other
students who have been able to improve their
employment situations, apply and complete
certification in various fields such as cosmetology
and licensing in various construction areas. Our
tutoring and mentoring approach works, I believe,
because each of us invests, at a very personalized
level, in bringing the right tools, on an individualized
basis, to our students.
PiELL had a most successful Retreat in January
where we set our tactical goals for 2011. To date we
are on track with those short term goals and are in
the process of establishing the infrastructure to
achieve our long term goals. We so appreciate the
volunteer spirit of all our supporters who have
enabled us to keep this vital program blooming and
growing. We look forward to your continued support
and again thank you for all that you do toward
improving the education of adult learners within our
community.
Our volunteers have provided over 4,000 hours of
service this past year and we find the need for our
services increasing. Currently we have a waiting list
of students to be matched with a much needed base
of trained tutors. Our 60 tutor volunteers are
matched one-on-one, with an adult learner. Our
students come from countries such as Vietnam,
Mexico, Poland, China, Peru, Russia, Thailand,
Columbia, Slovakia, Mongolia, Argentina and Iran.
We have met the challenge, through our collective
commitments as a community, to educate our
students who are employed within our locality in
fields such as construction, health services, food
services, and other labor intensive fields. Seventy
Partners in English
Language Learning
Student Demographics
Asia
China
Iran
Mongolia
Thailand
Vietnam
Latin America
Argentina
Columbia
Mexico
Peru
Other
Poland
Russia
Slovakia
Myra Arstein, President
Partners in English Language Learning
5-Year Student/Tutor Data
85
65
71
45
53
81
66
Students
Tutors
Fall 2011 Training schedule:*
Sat., Sept. 17th 8:30am—4:30pm
Sat., Sept. 24th 8:30am—4:30pm
*Must attend both days
25
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Can you help? We currently have 10 students waiting for a tutor!
Do you know a good tutor candidate who could attend our next tutor training in September?
www.piell.org
Phone: (530) 274-8428 email: [email protected] Mail: 578 Sutton Way, PMB #198, Grass Valley, CA 95945
Tax ID #68-0160848
PiELL is a 501 (c) (3) organization
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PiELL Bulletin
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A Model of Humanity: by Bev Stout, Tutor and Board Director
He contributed much to PiELL (formerly
Literacy Council). He was a board member
who helped define policy, and served as an
Executive Board member, first as Treasurer
and later as President. When his health
weakened and he retired from the
organization, he continued to be a strong
supporter through attending events and
generous donations. When he wrote his
autobiography, he donated most of the
proceeds from the book sales to PiELL,
approximately $5800!
As you may know he was a WWII
reconnaissance pilot, shot down by the
Japanese over New Britain, New Guinea.
Islanders rescued him, hid him from the
Japanese who patrolled the island, and
nursed him back to health. He was so
grateful that years later he took a leave of
absence from his company, and went to New
Britain with his son and established the first
school there. They built it with the help of the
villagers, and acquired teachers for them. In
his Grass Valley home, on top of his piano,
he kept a photograph of one of the first
students in the school, who later went on to
become a professor at a university in
England. The villagers continued to revere
him, and he visited often, the last time in
2006. They carried him in a dais that they
paraded around town. His fascinating
story is chronicled in his autobiography,
available in local bookstores and
Amazon.com, ―The School That Fell From
the Sky,‖ 2002.
Fred Hargesheimer
Fred also tutored and gardened at
Hennessey Elementary School. Our
community was blessed by his
presence, and he will be fondly
remembered by all who knew him.
THANK YOU to the families actively using Scrip gift cards, SPD paper
Scrip and Save Mart SHARES cards. We earned a total of over
$1,724 in 2010 through these 3 mechanisms with Scrip gift cards
contributing the most at $1,649 (PiELL buys gift cards at a discount,
and resells them at face value, earning about 5% on the average and
it is tax deductible to the card purchaser). If you haven’t tried one of
our Scrip programs yet, this is the year! For more information, please
contact Kathy Mollet at 478-1848 or [email protected] .
Congratulations and thank you to the 2011 graduates of
our New Tutor Training!
Anna Alton
Sandy Bailey
Nelda Foster
Kristan Harrington
Leslie Kauk
Photo courtesy of Mary Lou Gibson
Some of you may remember Fred
Hargesheimer, a former board member for at
least 15 years. It is with sadness, but also
fond and grateful memories, that we learned
of his death on December 23, 2010, at 94.
Sherie Saenz
Jay Schuff
Stanley Schwartz
Reine Thibeault
OUR GENEROUS DONORS (May 1, 2010~April 30, 2011)
FRIENDS $1-$49
Leon Bauer
PARTNERS $50-$99
Anonymous—Honor Brd Member
Judi Kreinick
PARTNERS $50-$99 continued
GOLD $500-$999
Mark & Kris Vasser
Judi Kreinick
Robert Blofeld & Nancy Nelson
Myra & David Arstein
Anita Wald-Tuttle
Tod Buis
F. Mervin Baker
Joanne Weatherly
PLATINUM $1000-$5000
Nancy Creech
David & Louise Beesley
Patricia & Lawrence Werner
Ghidotti Foundation
James M. Dodds
Curtis Bok & Sharon Bailey-Bok
Barbara Duvall
Marianne Cartan
BRONZE $100-$199
Kathy Mollet
GoodSearch Good-Shop
Chevron HumanKind
Jay Egan
Save Mart Cares
Hindi Greenberg
Rosalee Doherty
F.D. Francis
United Way of Nevada County
Nancy Guenther
Laura Duncan
Fred Hargesheimer
WestAmerica Bank
Custis Haynes
Barbara Fain
Art Katz
Lawrence & Lisa Lang
Cheri Flanigan
J.M. Keating
DONATIONS IN KIND
Wendy Lehman
Margaret Glaeser
Ellen and Lewis Lukens
David Arstein
Brad Miller
Dorothy & Ralph Hitchcock
Eric Robinson
Grass Valley School District
Mary Nelson
Joe & Lisa Macrina
Daniel Rodriguez & Deborah Alcott-Rodriguez
Diane Hilde, Hilde Design Graphics
Jean Richardson
Marilyn Mociun
Arthur & Evelyn Stecher
South Pine Café
Diane and Lowell Robertson
Gerald Chan and Lisa Moon
Jesus Villareal
Trevor Michael, Margarita's Restaurant
Albert & Mary Thelander
Marc Orman
Nancy Guerra-Wilbourne
Roger & Jean Poff
SILVER $200-$499
IN MEMORY OF……
Helen Williamson
Save Mart Shares
49er Rotary Club of Nevada City
John Jessup—Ellen and Lewis Lukens
Kate Winningham
Great Lakes Scrip Program
Amy & Ryan Shaw
Rotary Club of Grass Valley
John Jessup—Helen Williamson
Tutor Luncheon Donations
SPD Stores
Fred Hargesheimer—Custis Haynes
Virginia VanWagner
Beverly Stout
Sam and Bill—Anita Wald-Tuttle
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Success Stories
PiELL Bulletin
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Student Ai Ming “Mandy” Becomes a U.S. Citizen!
One of our learners, Ai Ming, who prefers to go by the nickname Mandy, came
here from China 3 years ago with the hope of becoming a U.S. Citizen. As soon
as she began meeting with her tutor, Margaret Glaeser, she asked for help
studying for the citizenship exam. We have a large resource library in our office,
which includes a great series on citizenship. Lately, it’s been hard to keep those
materials on the shelf, as many of our students have been studying for the
exam. Mandy took the exam about 4 months ago, and passed. She was so
excited and grateful to her tutor. She hand-wrote a wonderful letter (right) to us
about her success and thanking Margaret.
Ai Ming ―Mandy‖ with her tutor Margaret
The Flood: A Childhood Memory
As told to tutor Bev Stout by student Rosario
One of my first memories was of a flood when I was four years old. We
lived in Abasolo, Guanajuato, Mexico. It had been raining many days.
At 4:00 or 5:00 in the afternoon, a nearby dam broke and the water
came into town. We were all in the bedroom. My Mom was behind the
bed holding baby Virginia, and I and my other younger sister Irma
were in the bed.
My Mom was standing up and the water was as high as her hip. The
[wardrobe] closet fell down in front of the bedroom door and we
couldn’t get out. The bed was floating. There was no electricity. The
storm was really angry, with a lot of lightning and thunder. We had
chickens, pigs, and a dog, and they all were crying.
My father and grandfather were in town buying and selling animals,
pigs and chickens. At around 7:00 or 8:00 p.m. my father and
grandfather came to get us, and took us to grandfather’s house, which
was higher.
The house was ruined. We stayed a few days with my grandfather,
and then we moved to Irapuato, another suburb of Guanajuato.
When I was ten years old, there was another flood, this time in
Irapuato! We were home on vacation from school. It was on August
18, 1973. Another dam broke; this one was much bigger than the one
in Abasolo. Before the water arrived, I could see the dust cloud in front
of it!
Inside the house, the water was higher than the doorway, and we all
climbed to the roof. All the neighbors were on their roofs, too. The
teachers who lived nearby in a three-story house, taller than the rest,
told everyone to come to their house because it was higher. I
remember my father holding each of us and handing us over to the
people on the next roof, until we all got to the teachers’ house.
Rosario with her tutor Bev
I remember seeing an 18-year old boy in the street when the water
came. My father and another man stretched a rope across the street.
The boy grabbed the rope and traveled hand-over-hand on the rope
until he could hang on to the window frame across the street. The man
grabbed him and lifted him to the roof.
I also remember seeing the owner of the grocery store on the corner,
and she was crying. All the goods from the store were floating away
down the street. I also saw a dead person float by and lots of animals.
We were on the teachers’ roof for four or five days. Our house was
muddy but did not fall down or wash away. We were able to clean it up
with a lot of work and continue living there.
Partners in English Language Learning
578 Sutton Way PMB 198
Grass Valley, CA 95945
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Thank You!
to the following businesses where
PiELL students and tutors meet in a
comfortable and welcoming
environment:
Briar Patch
Caroline’s Coffee, E. Main St.
Flour Garden, Neal St.
Grass Valley Library
Nevada County Country Club
Nevada City Library
Penn Valley Community Church
Safeway, Brunswick Basin
Summer Thyme’s Bakery & Deli
PAID
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Calendar
Help PiELL go Paperless!
In our on-going effort to utilize funds
more effectively, please help us by taking
a moment to update your contact
information using the enclosed donation
envelope. Let us know how we can better
serve you, and if we can save paper by
including you in future e-mail newsletters
and other mailings. Thank you!
Non-Profit
Organization
U.S. Postage
Grass Valley, CA
Permit No. 9
Mailing Address:
Partners in English
Language Learning
578 Sutton Way,
PMB 198
Grass Valley, CA 95945
Physical Address:
Lyman Gilmore School
10837 Rough & Ready
Hwy
Room B4, Grass Valley
Phone/Fax: (530) 2748428
Email: [email protected]
www.piell.org
Office Hours
Mon:
1:00—5:00
Wed:
2:00—6:00
Fri:
9:00—1:00
Annual Meeting/Tutor Brunch:
June 11th~ 11:00am—2pm
Watch for your invitation!
Fall 2011 Training schedule:*
Saturday, September 17th 8:30am—4:30pm
Saturday, September 24th 8:30am—4:30pm
*Must attend both days.
Tutor Coffee:
July 19th (location TBD)
Notice
In accordance with the bylaws, the
PiELL Board of Directors has posted the
Annual Report on the PiELL website.
Copies of the Annual Report will also be
available at the Annual Meeting/Tutor
Brunch on June 11, 2011.