Who are RYALT? Community Spotlight

Hannah Cunningham from Volunteer Marlborough

For the third installment of our new Q&A series sharing about community organisations around Marlborough, we caught up with the team at the Rural Youth and Adult Literacy Trust (RYALT)...⁠
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1. What is the mission or goal of RYALT? To provide FREE one-to-one tuition for disadvantaged rural (or otherwise isolated) youth and adults who struggle with reading and writing. We do this using phone or skype, in their homes and at their own pace, with a focus on what that individual student needs to learn, not on external tests such as NZQA. These courses are available throughout the country, and always have tutor support.

2. What do your volunteers do? Our staff here at RYALT are very fortunate to have the support of our amazing volunteers; RYALT could not operate without volunteer input. We have volunteers in a wide range of roles including accounts administration, database creation, data entry, reception, community ambassadors, volunteer coordinators, social media promoters, and our amazing literacy coaches/tutors.

3. How does your organisation’s work help/develop the community? Building literacy builds self-esteem and allows for students to actively participate confidently and become a benefit to their local community.

4. Are you currently recruiting volunteers? Yes, we are continually seeking volunteers for many roles. Currently, we are focussing on recruiting more Community Ambassadors as they are the first step in letting their local community know about the benefits of our services. We need these people to actively talk about literacy in their communities and share the benefits of our FREE courses.

If you're interested in joining the RYALT team, get in touch with Hannah at Volunteer Marlborough by calling 03 577 9388, or emailing vm@volunteermarlborough.org.nz⁠ .