Actually I asked that the Literacy Council change our relationship to that of independent contractor. They did that and actually extended the contract for an extra eight months.

 

Here is the article that ran in the Midland Daily news today:

 

 

Kathie Marchlewski October 20 at 7:21am Report

Here’s what I submitted. Hope it suits you. It was so good to see you this week — we’ll have to do it again. Would be fun to see Susan, too!!!

By Kathie Marchlewski
For the Daily News

The last eight years of the Literacy Council of Midland County have been marked by growth. Its annual fundraiser has outgrown its venue three times, its income and budget have more than doubled, and the number of clients it serves has nearly quadrupled.
With those dramatic increases in place – and growing – the council’s longest serving executive director is announcing that it’s time for some personal growth.
Allen Richard, who started as Executive Director in 2002, is retiring from the organization.
“I’ve been collecting a paycheck for 55 years,” Richard said. “I was 8 years old cultivating my Uncle Floyd’s corn. It’s time to do something else.”
LCMC board vice chair John Wilson said Richard’s contributions to the group have been great. “We’re thankful for all he’s done for the program,” he said.
The council, which celebrates its 25th year in 2011, will be searching for a new director in upcoming months. In the meantime, it has named Richard Dolinski interim Executive Director.
Dolinski will also continue as leader of the The Legacy Center for Student Success (TLC), which was formed in 2004 to help students with needs not addressed in schools.
Pamela Ecarius, Literacy Council board chair, said the organizations’ similar missions and values make Dolinski a good pick.
Richard said he has big plans for his retirement from the council, and they include putting his entrepreneurial spirit to work.
He and wife Susan Putnam share decades of experience in fundraising and public/government relations. The couple started up SPARA, a consulting business, in May of 2009, naming it using their initials and their daughter Alaina’s.
Putnam is executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters in the Heart of Michigan, which covers Midland and Mount Pleasant areas.
Richard said his family will stay in the Midland area to be near family, and that Putnam will stay in her position while he works on growing SPARA, which specializes in non-profit management.
“It will allow me to tap into my imagination,” Richard said. “It will let me be the renegade I’ve always been.”
He said he has always taken an unconventional approach to tasks at hand.
“We’ve done a lot of really off-the-wall things,” he said of his time at the Literacy Council.
The state stopped funding literacy programs not long after Richard became director of LCMC, Richard said. At that point, he and staff had to take action. Besides plumping up community fundraising efforts, the team requested and received an increase of about $15,000 a year in federal funding. They also amped up efforts to get grants from foundations and businesses.
The Council in the last five years also changed the way it teaches, widening its focus to include help for clients with dyslexia.
“Allen has been a key person in bringing the Susan Barton dyslexia program to individuals in Midland County,” Ecarius said.
Including a program with the power to help readers who hadn’t succeeded in schools resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of clients served at the agency. And it improved results.
“Before that, we were basically doing the same thing that didn’t work for our clients when they were in school,” Richard said.
The Literacy Council in recent years has also taken the dyslexia initiative to area schools in an effort to prevent non-literacy before it starts.
Along with growth in the number of patrons and their level of success, Ecarius said Richard’s leadership has been key in the growth of the council’s annual Fat Tuesday fundraiser, the World’s Greatest Dessert Party.
The party provides almost 20 percent of the agency’s annual budget. Prior to Richard’s directorship, it typically raised twenty-something thousand dollars. The last three parties raised more than $30,000 each.
Richard predicts the 2011 party will be the best yet.
“We’re going to have room for twice as many people,” he said of the event’s newly-changed venue, which will be Valley Plaza Resort on Bay City Road on March 8.
Wilson said that as the Literacy Council moves past its silver anniversary, its services are expected to be in increased deman, in part because school staff and budget cuts are shaving away services to students.
“We expect our program is going to have an influx of young people,” Wilson said.
Richard feels good about the strength of the organization as he steps back.
“It’s in good hands,” he said of Dolinski’s incoming leadership. He said staff will also keep up momentum. “Two things I did really well were hire really good, talented, professional people and find a way to pay the bills,” Richard said.
Wilson said the mission of the organization remains clear: “We want to make sure the programs we have are operating effectively and our services are being utilized by as many people as possible,” he said.
The Literacy Council of Midland County is located at 222 N. Saginaw Road, Suite 1, Midland.

 

 

Allen Richard October 20 at 7:42am

Thanks! It looks fine to me!

Allen