fredericksburg fundraiser

  • By Tami Lange Mosser
  • February 26, 2014
  • 409
                        
In Fredericksburg, the library is more than just a place to check out books. It houses an after-school program for grade four to six. It hosts folks who want to play cards. It is a repository of local history. And it also houses the Adult Basic & Literacy Education classroom of Marianne Bricker. Everyone in the village collaborates to keep the library running, according to trustee Dee Pendlebury. The idea of a local community library was launched in the mid-1990s by four mothers who met once a week to pray for the local students. By 1998, the library had opened and continues to operate today with only volunteer help. Many of the books are donated, Pendlebury said, while grant funding pays for newer volumes. Now through November, she said, the trustees have launched a fundraising campaign to raise $10,000 to keep the library going. Bricker and her students wanted to help. To that end, past and current Fredericksburg ABLE students have coordinated a Hay Stack Breakfast and Silent Auction for March 8 from 7-11 a.m. at Mennonite Christian Assembly at 10664 Fryburg Road, Fredericksburg. Donations will be accepted for the meal. The ABLE program in Frederickburg was piloted in the spring of 2011, Bricker said, “with just a few students around the table in the (library’s) community room.” Since that time, more than 50 adults have earned their General Educational Development diplomas, according to Bricker, while numerous others have advanced their literacy and writing skills. Hosting the breakfast is just their way of giving back. Miriam Hostetler has an eighth-grade education and worked at a pizza parlor when she heard about the ABLE program through her sister. She got her GED diploma and now is preparing to work as a caregiver for a child with developmental disabilities. Amorita Miller found attending the ABLE classes in Fredericksburg was much more convenient than traveling all the way to Wooster. She now works at as nurse’s aide at Aultman Hospital in Canton and plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in nursing, while fellow student Amy Raber plans to enter the practical nursing program at the Wayne County Schools Career Center. Bricker could not be prouder of all of her students. “They’re top notch,” she said. “I can tell you that.” There are plenty of success stories, Bricker said, all because the library trustees agreed to give the program a rent-free spot in the library. “I’m just so proud of them,” she said. “It’s so exciting. They could own their own businesses.” She hopes the fundraiser will be a class reunion of sorts, though a number of students will have to work, while others have gone to spend time in Florida. The GED test battery has undergone some changes, Bricker said. The first major change was in 2002, when more graphics were used. The most recent has been this year, when changes have been made to reflect more of the Common Core standards and the practice test and actual test went online. The recent changes make Bricker’s job a bit more difficult, as she cannot see where a student had problems on the practice tests and therefor cannot really remediate them. While students can prepare for the tests at Fredericksburg, they need to go elsewhere to actually complete them, whether it be at the University of Akron Wayne College in Wayne County or at the Buckeye Career Center in New Philadelphia or at the Ashland County West Holmes Career Center in Ashland. When the Fredericksburg center first opened, Bricker said, there was initially a rush of students who wanted to get in for the instruction before taking the test. The center continues to be open Tuesdays from 9 a.m. until noon and Wednesday from 5:30 until 8:30 p.m. Now, Bricker said, “I need students. I need to build back up and recruit more students.” For more information on the ABLE program, contact the program’s administrative offices, which are housed at Central Christian Church in Wooster. The phone number is 330-988-1007. You may also go online at www.waynecountyable.org.


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