THUNDER BAY - There may be only one way to spell success but there are countless ways to achieve it and one organization that strives to help people reach their full potential is getting a helping hand, one letter tile at a time.
The Thunder Bay Literacy Group held its 21stAnnual Scrabble Tournament on Saturday at the Intercity Shopping Centre and one long-time participant continues to go above and beyond when it comes to helping people in the community.
In the last 10 years, Rashmi Agarwal has raised more than $10,000 for the Thunder Bay Literacy Group, including $1,800 this year alone.
“Its helping people in my own community, to help them learn the way I was helped to learn,” she said.
More than 30 players participated in this year’s tournament, which has raised more than $160,000 in the last 21 years for programming at the Adult Learning Centre.
Tessa Casella, volunteer coordinator with the Thunder Bay Literacy Group, said the Scrabble Tournament has always been a popular and important fundraiser.
“People think Scrabble and they think words, they think literacy,” she said. “The majority of the players are returning players, they have that dictionary memorized, and they love to come out and play and they love to come out and support what we do.”
The Thunder Bay Literacy Group provides programming to adults over 19-years-old through a variety of courses.
“Literacy is a broad term,” Casella said. “It’s not just reading and writing. We have classrooms specific to English, a math classroom, a computer prep-class, a GED prep-class. Literacy is education and we have something for everybody.”
Returning player, Madison Schell, said she sees how important the work of the Thunder Bay Literacy Group is to the community every day.
“I work for a social services agency in the city and a lot of our clients go to Thunder Bay Literacy Group,” she said. “There are so many individuals who are adults but they might not have graduated or they may need some extra assistance in some areas of literacy that employers or maybe people wouldn’t identify or recognize.”
And what better way to support literacy education than with a popular board game that celebrates words.
“You are doing a literacy activity but at the same time you are learning and having fun,” Schell said. “It’s just getting out there and creating awareness about adult literacy.”
