SACO — According to non-profit ProLiteracy, there are 36 million adults in the country who can’t read better than the average third grader.

Illiteracy impacts our society in several ways, said Dorrie Roedner, who is spearheading ReadMore, a new adult literacy program through First Parish Congregational Church.

ProLiteracy estimates health care costs are increased $230 billion annually in our country due to low literacy skills.

Those who are illiterate or have low literacy skills can’t read food labels to help make prescribed dietary changes and may have difficulty understanding prescription instructions or other health information, said Roedner.

Low literacy is also linked to poverty, crime and unemployment, according to ProLiteracy.

Roedner said while on a church mission trip to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, she learned that the ability to read made a huge difference for those getting back on their feet after the physical devastation that had wiped through the area. Those with literacy skills could read evacuation directions and fill out paperwork for assistance programs, she said.

Roedner was trained as a literacy volunteer when Literacy Volunteers had an office in Saco. The Saco office closed a few years ago, leaving a void in the area. The closest Literacy Volunteers offices are Portland or Sanford, and difficult to access for those without transportation, she said.

“For a lot of our clients, transportation is an issue,” she said.

The United Church of Christ began a literacy campaign in the fall called Reading Changes Lives, and the mission fit in with Roedner’s passion to help others gain reading skills.

Roedner, who is a also a teacher at Biddeford Adult Education, put a call out to fellow parishioners for volunteers, and about 20 people have come forward, some of whom have a background in education, she said.

ReadMore volunteers have completed an abbreviated version of the standard Literacy Volunteer training, which Roedner was able to provide with assistance from the Portland Literacy Volunteers office. She said she hopes to partner with both the Portland and Sanford Literacy Volunteer offices in the future to offer more training.

Tutors will be paired up with students next month, she said. They will meet at the church or at a public place.

Roedner said someone who started working at a mill at a young age may have lost their job in recent years due to the mill closing. This person had the skills to be successful in the mill, but may not have literacy skills needed to begin a new career.

Parents unable to read can’t read to their children or help them with homework, said Roedner.

“If we can help parents it will have a trickle down effect and will help the kiddos, too,” she said.

Liis Nigol, student services coordinator for the OOB/Saco Adult Education Program, said the adult education center offers English and English as a Second Language classes, but does not offer the one-on-one style literacy tutoring that Literacy Volunteers does.

Nigol said the adult education center occasionally receives phone calls from people looking for a literacy tutor and she would love to see a literacy tutoring program brought back to Saco.

“I wish them well. These programs are valuable to the community,” said Literacy Volunteers of Greater Sanford Executive Director Ingrid Baily. She said her office helps Saco residents when they can, but most people want to do tutoring or learning in their own community.

She said literacy skills are needed to use computers, follow directions, get a driver’s license, conduct banking, go to a doctor’s office and fill out paperwork, and read a newspaper.

“There are a lot of daily acts in our modern society that really demand strong literacy levels,” said Baily.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or [email protected].