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Community Volunteer Fair will be held tomorrow St. John's United Church, in cooperation with the United Way, is pleased to be hosting a Volunteer Fair in its Georgetown location at 11 Guelph St. on Saturday, September 30 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. This event is in response to a community survey sent out in the spring, where agencies said the way St. John's could most help would be to find more volunteers. In another community survey, many individuals said they would like to volunteer some time but didn't know with which agency to go to or even what agencies needed volunteers. So, the idea of the Volunteer Fair was born-- to provide local agencies with an opportunity to showcase their operation and needs, and to provide a setting which would make it easy for interested individuals to learn about how they could help others. Special invitations have been circulated to the four area high schools to encourage students to attend the fair and choose where they'd like to spend their 40 volunteer hours. All ages are welcome to come, chat with people and enjoy some light refreshments. People helping people will be a recipe for building a happy and thriving community. Hopefully, this will become an annual event. Participants at the Volunteer Fair include: Big Brothers, Big Sisters Cancer Assistance Services of Halton Hills (CAS-hh) Canadian Mental Health Association Georgetown Bread Basket Georgetown Hospital Volunteers Girl Guides, Girls Inc. Grace House Habitat For Humanity Halton Community Legal Services Halton Hills Community Support and Information (now Links2Care) Halton Hills Speech Centre Halton Women's Place Literacy North Halton North Halton Distress Centre Peel HIV/AIDS Network POSSE (Peer Outreach Support Services and Education) P.O.W.E.R Red Cross Scouts Transitions for Youth United Way VON Halton Literacy Matters 905-873-2200 Tutoring is rewarding for the student and volunteer MELANIE HENNESSEY Volunteer tutor For most parents, September is a time when they ship their kids back to school. But for some adults, it can be when they actually return to a learning environment themselves. Maybe they didn't finish high school and now want to get their diploma, or maybe they just want to learn to read a bedtime story to their children. Enter Literacy North Halton (LNH), a local organization that offers literacy upgrading for adults. And while LNH is busy helping those students, it's also turning to the community for assistance right now with an appeal for more volunteer tutors. Consider this: almost one in five Halton residents aged 16 to 69 has difficulty with basic everyday reading and writing tasks, according to LNH's website. Although some may think they're too busy to volunteer, LNH's tutors actually only meet with their students once a week for three hours. As someone who has been working as a volunteer tutor for about one year now, I can personally attest to the fact that any time spent with a student is well worth it. There's a certain satisfaction when you know you've helped someone grasp something they didn't understand before. It also makes me happy to think that now they can use those skills throughout life to achieve their goals. While tutoring someone may sound like a daunting task at first, I can assure anyone who's thinking of doing it that LNH is there to support its tutors every step along the way. Its staff provides training sessions on how to effectively tutor, offers resources to teach with and is always willing to answer any questions. The organization asks that potential tutors are­ among other things­ caring, non-judgmental and patient people who have good reading, writing and verbal communication skills. I can't think of a better time for local residents to get involved with LNH and volunteer to tutor. Tutors are urgently needed. The group can be reached at 905-873-2200, or online at www.literacynh.org