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VALLEY — The Chambers County Library has been named a Local Contributor of the Year by the Alabama Association for Public Continuing and Adult Education (ALAPCAE). Nominations for this award were submitted from all over the state to recognize the individual, organization, institution or agency in the field of adult education who has made the largest contribution on a local level.

Chambers County Library was nominated for the award by Connor Chaveaux and Kristin Fryer with Southern Union State Community College after partnering with them last year in a family fun literacy fair.

“The Chambers County Library, under the leadership of Mary Hamilton and Tabitha Truitt, partnered with (our adult education program) in 2023 for a family fun fair celebrating books, reading and literacy for Family Literacy Week,” Chaveaux and Fryer wrote in their nominating letter. “Our event was a big success with door prizes and books given away to every child in attendance, largely because of their dedication to this event and family literacy in general. Additionally, this library does an outstanding job of serving the communities of Chambers County with a wide variety of creative, fun and free events for children and adults throughout the year.”

“For the 2023 Family Literacy Fun Fair, [Hamilton, Truitt] and the library’s youth programming coordinator, Jade Letson, not just partnered with us, they took the lead in planning meaningful literacy activities to provide Chambers County children and families with a high-quality event. [Letson] organized four scheduled readings throughout the event and had accompanying arts and crafts activities for each book.”

“The entire staff of the library worked hard to provide a fun, engaging event that got children excited about reading and choosing their very own book to take home and read,” they continued. “It was such a successful event, that when asked again to partner with Family Literacy Week 2024, they immediately agreed and vowed to make it even better than it had been in 2023.”

Assistant Library Director Truitt and library board member Karen Stone recently accepted the award on behalf of the library at ALAPCAE’s annual conference in Montgomery.

“We are grateful to have been nominated by Southern Union’s Adult Education program and chosen by ALAPCAE to receive it,” said Letson. “We are looking forward to partnering with Southern Union  once again in our next Family Literacy Fun Fair, which will be taking place at the library on September 19th.”

This month, the library will be finishing up its summer reading program for children and adults and will be making plans for fun and educational programs for children and adults that will be taking place this fall.

The mission of the ALPACA is to promote public awareness of the Alabama adult education program. address the professional development needs of Alabama’s adult education practitioners and recognize the excellence of instructional services.

Southern Union’s adult education program is designed to aid adults who are seeking to earn a GED or high school diploma and improve academic skills or English Language (EL) skills.

 

STATEWIDE AWARD — Jade Letson, Chambers County Library’s youth programming coordinator, displays a statewide award the library recently received for its adult education programs. The award was presented at the annual meeting of the Alabama Association for Public Continuing and Adult Education, held in Montgomery in late June.