What do you do at Learning Ally? I lead the Foreign Language Community, supervising the recording of all foreign language textbooks, and I lead the TOC Community, a group of organized, computer-savvy volunteers who help set up the textbooks so they are ready for the other volunteers to work on.  In non-COVID times, I also handle a lot of engagement and outreach initiatives in Georgia, mostly with the Lions Clubs and University of Georgia faculty and students.

How long have you worked at Learning Ally?  I became a volunteer almost as soon as I heard of it, in July 2007, and by the next summer I was on staff.

What made you want to work at Learning Ally? I can't imagine NOT wanting to work here.  Each day is different, so I don't have time to be bored, and all day, everyday, everything I am doing is helping someone in need.

What's something most people at LA don't know about you? What do you do during your free time? I grew up in a military family and have trouble sitting still. I'm 55, and have moved 32 times in my life, living in places as scattered as Maine and Florida, and California and Guam.  I love to travel, and am never happier than when I can get my husband and/or one of my children to go adventuring with me.  We are all hoping to go together to Norway for my 60th birthday, so I am (slowly, in my free time), studying Norwegian.

What is your favorite book? I don't really have a favorite but the two that probably had the most impact on my life were the unabridged versions of Johanna Spyri's Heidi  and Mary Mapes Dodge's Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates  which I received for my seventh birthday. They were the first "real" books I read, and at seven they were a bit of a challenge.  But, I read them, and I loved wrapping my head and tongue around the foreign words and cultural differences. I sometimes wonder if I joined the German folkdancing group at my high school so I could dress in a dirndl like Heidi and Gretel--?

If you could be any fictional character for a day, who would you be and why? H.G. Wells in the TV show Warehouse 13: she's absolutely brilliant, a good person deep down, and at about 140 years old she still looks stunning.

If you could write a book about your life, what would the title be and why? Say Yes to Adventure! I love a good adventure, and they usually happen when I take a chance and say yes.

Volunteers! We are grateful and overwhelmed by your tremendous support over these last few months. Through your efforts, we have been able to support more students with more audiobooks than ever before. Here are some numbers to show just how unbelievable you have all been:

• We have received over 4,000 new volunteer applications since March!  To put this in perspective, we typically receive about 200 new volunteer applications each month. We have been averaging 1,012 applications per month since March --  that's 5 times more! See the bar chart on the left. 

• We have had 340 new volunteers donate service since March -- over 3 times more than over the same period last year (97)! See the bar chart on the right. 

• We have had 662 total volunteers donate service hours since March --  58% more than we had over the same period last year (418)!

• Volunteers have donated 69,000 hours of service since July 1, 2019, with 43% or 29,490 of these hours donated since March 2020. This is 44% more than we had over the same period last year (418)! 

• We produced 51% more audiobooks (479) between March and June than we did during the same period last year (317).