The Beaver Lake Literacy Council initially distributed reading and tutoring materials in 1972 to any interested Arkansans out of the trunk of a car in a parking lot, in Rogers, and charged students for the materials.

Council members Ann Morgan, Roy Fuchs, Dave Pelphrey sold materials from said vehicle. Instrumental founding members included Anna Mae Searles, the Gill Family: Dennis and Opal, Mrs. W.H. Gill, Kay Gill and Family, and involved the communities of Lowell, Pea Ridge and Bentonville.

Early board officers included President “Jo” or “Joy” Dubell and Ben Stephens, Benton County School Board Supervisor and Vice President.

According to early meeting minutes, there was a lack of students and an abundance of tutors when the council began, and this is a complete reversal of the student/tutor ratio today. Stephens may have been instrumental in getting tutors started in the public schools, assisting young students. Today, the council only teaches adults to read, write and understand English.

Fifty years, community merging, a name change and a non-profit status later, the Literacy Council of Benton County currently occupies space off the Bentonville Square and consists of nearly 70 active students, 48 active tutors, a current waiting list of 60 students with 250-300 students served year to year.

“When the council started, all our students were American adults whom for whatever reason, were not reading well or at all,” LCBC Director Vicki Ronald notes. “Almost all of our students are now English as Second Language students.”

Early council minutes lauded first board president “Joy”, also referred to as “Jo” Dubell, who helped establish the council, and long-time Benton County native Marguerite Nichols as the first tutor trainer. Nichols’ work with the “Southeast Asian people in the area” who settled in northwest Arkansas after the Vietnam War, and the need for tutors to help Korean adults, were mentioned.

Lela Tisdale, organizer, and president of the first Arkansas literacy council, noted the Palestinian-Arab refugee problem and the work she planned to be doing in the Middle East on their behalf. Bernice Sather and Anna Mae Searles were also recognized. The council incorporated in 1981.

Board minutes first mention the need for Spanish-speaking tutors in January 1985.

“Today, 65 percent of our students are Hispanic,” Ronald notes, “however, we have 12 Afghan refugees attending classes with group and individual tutors. We have Russian students, Indian students, Brazilian students…our council is still filling a need for these residents to learn English and contribute to our community.”

Early council curriculum included the Laubach reading method, its motto being “Each One, Teach One”. This motto can still be found today written on the council’s building it shares with BMT Law Firm at 205 NW A St. in Bentonville. The initial mission statement of the council included the tutoring of non-reading or slow-reading adults and school-age children using the Laubach reading method.

When the council started tutors were sent into the public schools to assist with reading supplementation, according to minutes. “Tutors with a valid health card will volunteer to work an hour a week in the Rogers Public Schools,” minutes note, and all tutors were initially members of the board.

Board minutes are sporadic prior to 1974 and most may have been lost, due to several moves throughout the northwest Arkansas communities. Delving through old records, the council has been located at an office on Rainbow Curve, Central Methodist Church in Rogers, a satellite office in Gravette, the basement of the Massey Building (where Phat Tire is located today), SW A Street at The Adult Learning Center where it was noted by Mr. Dave Beatty, “the floor was rotten.” The council then moved to a strip mall suite on North Walton Blvd., had a satellite office at the Center for Nonprofits St. Mary’s, and in 2007 to its present location off the square next to Preacher’s Son restaurant.

Early board members included Beatty, Lew Taylor, Joe Huber, Charlotte Horvath, Margaret Holderby, Mary Jane Garrison, and J. Edward Roycraft. Early meetings were in Rogers and older meeting notes relate “the purchase of 25 Laubach reading kits used up the total of the council’s treasury but for a few cents.” Kits and training by Margaret Grace (Marguerite Nichols) totaled $288.40.

When the council established itself in a physical space it was also noted that the answering machine was defunct and long-distance phone calls would no longer be placed unless tutors wanted to place them from home and donate the cost to the council.

In 1991 the council discussed the prospect of dissolving or restructuring and invited area representatives to a meeting to address the issue. The council at that time was much more tied to school tutoring. During the 90s the council connected with workers at Tyson and George’s poultry plants to assist their employees with English. This was during a time of technological expense as well, and the council wanted to upgrade from using floppy discs. The council was trying to become more professional, adhering to state guidelines for compiling hours and assessing student progress.

The council changed its name, no longer associated with Beaver Lake, and absorbed the Pea Ridge and Lowell councils under the name Literacy Council of Benton County. An Internal Revenue Letter of Name Change announcing the council’s 501c3 non-profit status was finalized April 26, 2005.

The council has faced many obstacles, not the least of which today include covid and caution with hosting large fundraisers. A small, recent event was held in downtown Bentonville at Flying Fish and a portion of sales were donated to the council. A larger get-together was held at the home of one board member.

Popular fundraising events “Read Between the Wines” and “Scrabble Wars” have not been held since covid shut down all public events. A virtual, direct appeal was substituted for RBTW this year and many of the raffle prizes included wine and wine products.

Today’s council board members include recently retired President Michael Whited, Courtney Fitzgerald, Michael Parks, Courtney Hammock, Rajan Kamalanathan, Diego Quinones, Fallon Zschiegner-Bleich, and Anna Sharon.

Students are welcome to come by the office and fill out an intake application complete with a short assessment of their language skills. Materials are free. The council serves over 200 students a year. Interested tutor volunteers may fill an application online from the council’s website at www.goliteracy.org and attend a tutor training announced each month.

Moving into the next fifty years, LCBC’s Board of Directors, tutors, and staff continue improving the services they offer, personalizing the needs of students, and hoping increased marketing will alert the community to what the council is and what it does. It needs the community’s support.

“Many of our students have their high school and college degrees from their home country. We make it possible for them to interpret that knowledge into English and go on to wonderful successes,” Ronald said. “They buy homes, get promotions at work, start their own businesses, and help their children with their education. Building a strong community in northwest Arkansas needs more of us to be able to communicate in English, and the diversity of our communities makes for an interesting and vibrant place to live.”

LCBC Timeline for 50^th Anniversary

October 1972:

• Beaver Lake Literacy Council founded. Founders and early members include Anna Mae Searles, Ann Morgan, Roy Fuchs, Dave Pelfrey.
• Tutoring kits and Laubach reading materials were distributed from the trunk of a car in a Rogers parking lot.
• Joy Dubell was first president of the council. Its first real office on Rainbow Road, Bentonville.

1981:

• Articles of Incorporation and non-profit status filed.

1983:

• Council moves to Massey Building (where Phat Tire is located today).

1985:

• Rogers and Bentonville Public Schools request help for Spanish-speaking students.

1986:

• Ed Roycraft suggests using fundraisers to generate income instead of raising council dues.

1988-1989:

• Council moves to Adult Learning Center, 608 SW A St.

1990:

• Vincent de Paul of Rogers had approximately 100 non-English-speaking members. The Roycrafts and Gills met with church members willing to undergo tutor training.

1992:

• Immigrant influx becomes a new focus of the council.

2004-2005:

• Name changed to Literacy Council of Benton County.

2007:

• Moved office from 1140 N. Walton Blvd. to current location, 205 NW A St.

2008:

• First Scrabble Wars fundraiser held for the council.

2022:

• LCBC currently serves students hailing from Meso, Central and South America, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Vietnam, India, Russia.

LCBC Tutor Lisa Alexander Success Story

“Good afternoon.” “Hello.” “How are you?” “How was work?”

Lisa Alexander greets her Afghan students as they enter class and repeats the same questions to every student, letting each of them listen to the answers from their classmates and countrymen.

Lisa is currently teaching a class of six every day. She teaches a Hispanic student two mornings a week and has been tutoring at the Literacy Council of Benton County since 2018.

In addition to classes, Lisa operates a law office part time with her husband and devotes more than her share of time, as well as materials, to LCBC. She and her Afghan class recently made a field trip to a local bank.

“Four of the six students received their first paychecks and knew they had been paid, but they didn’t know what to do with the checks. We made an impromptu walking field trip to the bank on the square.”

Arvest Bank Vice President, Mike Whited (since retired), received an immediate phone call from LCBC Director Vicki Ronald, and knew to expect Lisa and her charges. After some discussion about pin numbers, ATMs and deposits, the class received a lesson from Lisa about how ATMs operate, why money couldn’t be withdrawn immediately, and the dangers of overdrafts.

“I’m not sure how much they understood initially, but I think I got my point across,” Lisa mused. “The next thing we demonstrated and discussed in class was signatures,” Lisa said, with cursive alphabet posters at hand. Whited noted that two of the students signed their names with what looked like a “t” or an “X” on their bank forms.

Concerned that Lisa may have taken on too much with her Afghan class in addition to her other students, she assured the program director that what she was doing for LCBC was mutually beneficial.

“I lost my son, Nick, a while ago and this is the first thing I’ve done that energizes me to want to leave the house and do something. I’m helping others but I’m helping myself as well.”

LCBC and its students are fortunate to have someone like Lisa Alexander volunteering her time and skills to improve our community through literacy.