Literacy Council endows scholarship so spirit can live on

By Amy Widner

LITTLE ROCK — The Super Tuesday tornado may have taken the Sharp County Literacy Council's building in Highland, but it couldn't take its members' dedication to literacy.

Surveying the damage, the council members still believed in their mission, but they didn't believe their group could recover from the tornado's destruction. So they made the difficult decision to dissolve and donate their $7,616 in remaining funds to endow a scholarship at Ozarka College, which has branches in Melbourne, Ash Flat and Mountain View.

Council board member Betty Waser said after considering about a dozen options, the group decided the scholarship would be the best way to establish a living continuation of the literacy council's purpose.

"We hope the scholarship will provide an opportunity for young people to be able to continue their education and to encourage them because they will know who and why they are getting this particular one, and maybe they'll keep that in mind," Waser said. "We want to help people learn to readand enjoy life as the rest of us know it."

The council was established in the 1980s with the mission of furthering literacy, especially in adults. The Sharp County Council emerged as the most active of the original tri-county group and took over responsibility for Fulton and Izard counties in the 1990s. Their Kite Festival became a popular yearly hit in Hardy, where families could come together for kite making, reading and storytelling.

All that changed when their Highland building was reduced to nothing but a concrete slab, scattering their collection of materials to the four winds. The tornado went right down the main drag in Highland, taking out about half of its businesses, Waser said.

"That was the final blow," Waser said.

Even before the tornado, rising gas prices and the economy were making their tri-county area of responsibility more difficult to manage. Volunteers were getting harder to find, and given the expense, it was getting more difficult to convince students that improving their reading skills would be worth their time and money. Longtime member Marilyn Bischoff said the group had already been talking seriously about the future of the council.

"So when the tornado took the office on Feb. 5, we decided maybe it was best to dissolve the council," Bischoff said. "It was a hard thing to do, but maybe it was realistic."

Although it destroyed so much, the tornado spared the original materials the council began with almost 30 years ago. During the cleanup effort, council members found books from Ozarka Votech, today's Ozarka College.

"It's really interesting to think that we have come full circle," Bischoff said. "The original Ozarka Votech supported us in the beginning, and now we've come full circle and are giving a scholarship to Ozarka students."

Per the council's request, the scholarship gives preference to future teachers fromSharp County or neighboring counties. Bischoff added $500 in honor of a member who kept the council afloat during a difficult phase, Gladys Hagemann. The family of JaNoel Bess, who started the Kite Festival, have also added to the fund. When the endowment reaches $10,000 the college will be able to use the interest it generates to award a $500 scholarship to a student each year. The scholarship will be called the Sharp County Literacy Council/JaNoel Bess Scholarship. Ozarka Advancement Director Karla Rush said she expects the scholarship to be fully endowed by the end of 2008.

"For an institution of our size, each endowment is significant for us," Rush said.

Incoming or current students in good standing may apply for the scholarship once it reaches full endowment. The school has about 20 endowments, several of which have been added during the last several years.

Not all of the council's materials were destroyed, and they were able to donate their salvaged materials to theIndependence County Literacy Council, which is a new group.

Other members of the Literacy Council Board include Lois Anderson, Patti Girman and Amy Buckingham. Those interested in donating to the scholarship may call Suellen Davidson at (870) 368-7371.

- awidner@ arkansasonline.com

Three Rivers, Pages 105, 114 on 08/10/2008