Literacy Council Celebrates Grand Opening
Of Its New 10,400 Square Foot Headquarters

In early December, 2009, a dream really did come true for students, staff and supporters of the Literacy Council of Bonita Springs:  A Grand Opening of its new, spacious Headquarters Building was held to usher in a new era. 
     A large crowd gathered at the new facility on Old 41 on that evening to bathe in the knowledge that in its 20^th year, things will be forever improved for Council students. The 10,400 square foot building was going to change how and where students would chase their own dreams while they learned to understand, read, write and speak English. 
     Fittingly, it was a Council student who set the tone for the evening when she told the assembled supporters, volunteers, officials, staff and other students, “Without the chance to come to this building and learn English, life would be so much harder,”  said Alma Sanchez.  “Thanks for offering us hope, knowledge, happiness and the chance for success.  Thanks for helping us fulfill our dreams.”
     The stunning new Council headquarters is located on the west side of Old 41, North of Terry Street and South of Rosemary.  It will provide classroom space for the Council’s 1,900 member student body and offices for staff.  Numerous spaces are available in the building to accommodate everything from one-on-one tutoring exercises up to large classrooms, permitting the consolidation of all its training classes to be brought under one roof.  
     A separate area will house its Carol DeJoy Moms and Tots Program, newly named for the board member who almost single-handedly kept the dream of a new building alive with her contributions of time, her untiring efforts and her own monetary gifts.  Also a volunteer tutor, Carol was devoted to the Moms and Tots program.  She passed away before seeing her dream come true. 
|     Two other major contributors were permanently honored with the naming of the largest room in the facility (designed so it can be partitioned into four smaller ones), the Suwyn Community Room.  Mark and Patt Suwyn were huge strategic and financial supporters.  Their recommendations throughout the process kept the capital campaign on track.
     And still another longtime supporter and participant in the Council’s program was honored posthumously at the Grand Opening.  Chuck Pipher, a master at all things audio-visual, personally managed total AV activities at every Annual Breakfast before he died.  For many years leading up to the building campaign, Chuck dispensed his wisdom and his financial support to that cause.
     Students and staff alike are particularly excited by the 2,200 foot library in the  building, with its spacious Computer Laboratory, including 12 computer stations to allow committed students to improve their English in private study. 
     The grand opening was the culmination of a three-year capital campaign in which  numerous Council supporters stepped forward with major commitments and hundreds of others contributed what they could afford to move the project forward. 
     At the time of the closing on the property, the Council had collected $1.6 million of the $3.2 million total campaign goal.  A search for a mortgage holder resulted in a partnership with Regions Bank, a community-minded financial institution which also supported the Council’s Groundbreaking event in June, 2008.  Officials of Regions joined the partying at the grand opening. 
     Susan Acuna, Executive Director of the Council, put things in perspective for attendees at the grand opening when she said that “This building, as beautiful as it is to all of us, is still just a building.  But it is also a reminder to us that ‘the dream lives on.”
      That “dream” has a new rallying cry, it was announced after the ceremonies.  It is “A Race to the Finish,” the name given to the second phase of the Capital Campaign, as the Council attempts to wipe out the remaining debt to the bank of $1.4 million.
     “We’re confident,” Acuna said, “that our supporters will get behind us and help us “race to the finish’ by retiring the balance.” 

Acuna welcomes all members of the community to visit the new Council Headquarters