Welcome to the New Nottoway County Literacy Program Website

I am Kathy Oliver, the program director and very excited to have this platform to share what I hope will be information you can use. You see, as I explore what I can do to help Nottoway County residents, mostly I have discovered that what is needed, is a place to find out information such as what programs are available, how they can help and what they offer. I hope to match up certain programs to the people who can use them. The mission is to provide a megaphone for these programs to reach the community, to herald what they offer. So how? Well, the Crewe Conference Center is in the Library where my office is. So organizations and services can use this conference room to make their presentations to the community. Here at the Literacy Program, we feature services that provide information in the areas of health and nutrition, budgeting and other financial assistance, help with getting your GED, help with preparing for the workforce or with skills to improve reading. As an example, we have hosted the Massey Cancer Center for a talk on colorectal cancer, and the Piedmont Senior Resource Center who provided information on navigating Medicare.

And of course we offer classes in reading, English as a 2nd language and help with digital devices such as laptops, tablets and phones. On the website, you can find that information. And finally we offer community involvement. One of the major contributors to depression is isolation. It is a growing mental health problem. So we have recently started a Knitters and Crocheters Gathering group which meets here in the Literacy Classroom once a month. And I have become involved in the new Crewe Community Garden conveniently located behind the Crewe Library. I will be working one of the raised beds and I invite you to follow along via this blog. I believe I have a garden theme...a Tea Garden. Many of us love to drink tea while reading and to soothe what ails us. My goal to use the dried leaves from the garden to create our own tea blends, to be enjoyed by visitors to our programs. And perhaps host a class on inventing tea blends, so stay tuned!

And follow us on FaceBook and Instagram, as I share articles that can help you with health, nutrition, your finances and over all well being. Bye for now.

Kathy Oliver

NCLP Director