Kalamazoo Literacy Council

KALAMAZOO, MI. — The Kalamazoo Literacy Council hosted the 1st Annual Kalamazoo SCRABBLE® Fest on April 16, 2011, from 12 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Portage Northern High School. The event raised awareness of adult literacy and raised more than $1,500 to strengthen and expand adult literacy services for low-level adult readers.

More than 30 players participated in the “Competitive” and the “Just for Fun” categories using the official SCRABBLE® rules. After three 1-hour games with each player having 3 minutes per turn, the winners of the 1st Annual Kalamazoo SCRABBLE® Fest were crowned.

“Competitive” division winners were:                                                        

1st Place        Rob Wall Emerson of Kalamazoo         1,302                      

2nd Place       Eric Schmidt of Kalamazoo                 1,202                      

3rd Place       Luci Falkenberg of Portage                  1,056                      

 

“Just for Fun” division winners were:

1st Place         Debbie Grosteffon of Battle Creek            1,112

2nd Place        Lorelei Grosteffon of Battle Creek             919

3rd Place         Norm Bober of Lawton                           881

Major sponsors for the event included Adams Outdoor Advertising, Edwards Industrial Sales, Inc., Schupan & Sons, Inc., Strategic Solutions, Bronson Healthcare Group and Jaqua Realtors. The Kalamazoo Literacy Council would also like to thank the many volunteers who helped make this event a wonderful success.

The Kalamazoo SCRABBLE® Fest is one of many programs and activities the Kalamazoo Literacy Council hosts to support adult literacy. In Kalamazoo County, over 31,000 people or 13% of adults cannot read a simple story to a child, an intersection on a map, a prescription label, or total purchases from an order form.  Additionally, children whose parents are functionally illiterate are twice as likely as their peers to be functionally illiterate. That is why the KLC is committed to quality literacy education to eliminate these problems and enhance the lives of adults through programs that increase reading, writing and spelling skills.

The Kalamazoo Literacy Council if funded in part by grants from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, and Greater Kalamazoo United Way among other supporters.

For more information about the Kalamazoo Literacy Council, please call (269) 382-0490 EXT. 222.