Tommy Denton

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Year-end holidays hold great promise for youngsters gathered warm and cozy around living rooms or dens on winter afternoons or evenings to have their imaginations stirred by the seasonal stories, myths and chronicles of the ages, as read by their parents or other caring adults.

For those who summon such memories from their own childhoods, and who lovingly plant the seeds of similar recollections in their own offspring, such traditions may seem almost a natural given, one of those obvious cultural imperatives without which life may seem sadly empty.

But what of those adults who lack the capability to decode the words on a page, and thus not only be unable to pass along the splendid wonderment contained in the narratives but who are unable to decipher them for themselves?

Yet the inability to read carries with it more than the exclusion from the literary stimulation of visions of miraculous events unfolding in beautiful nocturnal settings in ancient Palestine or moral tales exemplified by the triumph of generous Whos over the mischievous exploits of Grinches.

Illiteracy condemns a person to the inability to follow written instructions in applying for -- or keeping -- a good job, thus virtually assuring a grim prospect of finding work that pays a living wage, keeping that person from becoming a potential burden on society.

Inability to read invites peril for self and family members if a person is unable to comprehend instructions on a bottle of medication.

Adults who are ill-equipped to perform rudimentary processing of primary language symbols may very quickly experience wounded pride, deterioration of self-esteem and perhaps even alienation. Such psychological and emotional burdens often trap the functionally illiterate person into a cycle of apparent helplessness, even despair, ultimately producing troubling social consequences.

Universal literacy in 21st-century America should be a given, because basic competence in reading and writing is essential in participating for the culture and economy of this advanced civilization.

Yet the most recent national statistics, the 2003 National Adult Literacy Survey, reported that between 21 percent and 23 percent of adults in the United States are functionally illiterate. Thus they have difficulty performing the basic tasks requiring elementary critical decision-making: shopping, answering help-wanted ads, deciphering safety instructions, following public-transit schedules.

Closer to home, matters are gloomier. In that same survey, Roanoke showed a functional illiteracy rate of nearly 26 percent. Even in relatively prosperous, well-educated Salem, the rate was 14 percent.

Eradicating illiteracy is not so much a bleeding-heart summons to help liberate poor souls from their isolating shackles, although that is a virtuous enough impulse, but a pragmatic exercise of a community's enlightened self-interest.

Of those Roanoke Valley agencies working to reduce illiteracy, churches, the public school systems and assorted social service agencies are making headway. I am personally attracted to Literacy Volunteers of Roanoke Valley -- I am honored and privileged to have served on its board of directors for eight years -- a nationally certified, nonprofit educational organization dedicated to increasing functional literacy among adults through intensive, free tutoring by trained volunteers.

To help provide financial support for that mission, LVRV this year established a trust fund through the Foundation for Roanoke Valley. The trust is named for Walter P. "Pat" Dungan, who retired from General Electric in 1985 and even then saw the challenge of illiteracy. He was one of the founders of Literacy Volunteers and remains a board member.

Working with Pat has been a hoot, not only because he has a quick sense of humor, but also because no board member exceeds his plucky determination and resolve to subdue illiteracy -- as he has proven through board service and in his tireless fundraising and volunteering as a tutor himself.

Success breeds its own challenges, and perhaps the greatest need now is a surge in volunteer tutors for 2007 to help meet rising demand for a program Pat Dungan has been so instrumental in advancing for more than 20 years.

Those interested in assaulting adult functional illiteracy may contact the Literacy Volunteers of Roanoke Valley office at (540) 265-9339 or visit the Web site at lvarv.org.

Whether the enlistment will be out of a sense of virtue or enlightened self-interest, both motivations work.

Denton's column appears in the Sunday and Tuesday editions of The Roanoke Times.