Editor's Note: Literacy Volunteers of Massachusetts is one of many charitable organizations to which Harvard employees can contribute through the Community Gifts through Harvard campaign.

By Eileen K. McCluskey

Special to the Gazette

Until "Mark" was 46 years old he could only write words he had memorized, such as his name and address, and the terms he needed to fill out work orders for his job. Whenever he was asked to read text, Mark would say he didn't have his glasses with him. "Most of the time I felt lost and stupid," he recalls in a testimonial he recently wrote for Literacy Volunteers of Massachusetts (LVM).

"I went to Literacy Volunteers for help . . . about two years ago," Mark's letter continues. "Now I can read things that a lot of people take for granted, like birthday cards, menus, and the newspaper."

One in five adults in the United States -- 27 million people -- need basic instruction in reading and writing, according to 1990 census data. In Massachusetts alone, 19 percent of adults over the age of 18 (877,000) lack functional literacy skills, and an additional 1,162,000 (25 percent) lack the skills expected of a high school graduate.

"There are a lot of reasons why so many adults have reading problems," reports Roberta Soolman, LVM's executive director. "Some have undiagnosed or unremediated learning disabilities. Others have vision or hearing problems that have never been addressed.

"Some of these adults had to leave school at an early age to support a family or, for other reasons, missed important lessons and then felt too embarrassed to seek help."

Adults struggling with literacy difficulties tend to carry a "terrible sense of shame and embarrassment," says Soolman. "They often describe themselves as retarded, damaged, or stupid, because they've heard those terms thrown at them all their lives."

When "Sharon" first came to LVM, Soolman reports, "she wouldn't look you in the eye." As a child, Sharon had been promoted through her town's school system even though she couldn't read or write.

As an adult, Sharon worked as a housekeeper in a hotel and hid her literacy problems behind challenging physical labor. "But then the hotel instituted a computer system," recalls Soolman. "This system required that you punch in to read your daily assignments. At the end of the day, you were expected to use the computer to report on the work you had completed and the supplies you had used."

After two years of one-on-one tutoring with an LVM volunteer, Sharon felt secure enough in her budding literacy to seek support from her supervisor at the hotel. She asked for patience as she practiced her new skills within the context of her job, and for taking occasional time away from work to testify publicly on behalf of LVM.

"Her employer gave her the support she required," Soolman notes, "and now she trains others at work in the use of the computer system."

The nonprofit LVM, which is based in Boston, offers free, confidential and individualized tutoring in basic reading and writing to adults and out-of-school youths over age 16. "We also teach these basic skills to guests at homeless shelters," Soolman adds.

Each year, LVM helps approximately 1,000 adults learn how to read and write through its statewide network of 12 affiliate programs. The funds it raises through the Community Gifts through Harvard Campaign are used in all of LVM's activities: direct service tutoring; an annual statewide conference for students, volunteers, and staff; publication of original writings by students in the program; and public awareness campaigns.

In LVM's first issue of The Benefactor, its newsletter for donors, special thanks is expressed "to Harvard Management Company and its employees who have contributed generously to LVM this year through their payroll deduction plan."

Rewards for newly literate adults reach far into the depths of the human spirit. For Mark, the birth of his daughter provided his primary motivation for approaching Literacy Volunteers of Massachusetts. "Now I can read a bedtime story to my baby daughter," he writes. "I want her to be proud of me."