Scrabble Wars supports ABCs of literacy

NWACC Skollars, a team with a humorously misspelled name, was crowned the traditional category winner at Scrabble Wars with 1,999 points Jan. 25 at DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel in Bentonville.

Scrabble Wars is a fundraiser for the Literacy Council of Benton County, a nonprofit agency increasing adult English literacy by developing volunteer tutors to teach students, according to the council’s website, goliteracy.org. The event raised an estimated net of $22,000, said Vicki Ronald, executive director of the Literacy Council.

“There are 45,000 adults in Benton County who are functionally illiterate,” she said.

Scrabble Wars is a fun, quirky event and a chance for serious Scrabble players to take on the game as teams, Ronald said. It is exciting when someone says, “Let the Scrabble Wars begin,” Scrabble boxes are ripped open, and the volume in the room skyrockets, she said. For the event, each table played team Scrabble in either the traditional or dubious category.

Teams playing in the dubious category can bribe the judges for letters or dictionaries, and this money also goes to the Literacy Council.

NWACC Skollars team members were Rob Earp,Jacqueline Jones, Autumn Campbell, Nathan Crowder, Megan Looney, Sabrina Chesne and Brian Kelly. The dubious category winner was the team Scrabbleistas. Team members were Ricardo and Lu Pinto, Nicole Scally, Fern Smith, Steve Wright, David Yates, Heather and Adam Cogburn, Bao Bui, Melissa Larkins and Michael White.

A silent auction included nearly 150 items.

A pledge drive raised about $4,000 to help studentand tutor pairs get started, Ronald said. Each student and tutor pair needs $250 for books and training.

There was also a bookstore room at the event featuring books donated by the authors to the nonprofit organization. About $700 was raised in the bookstore.

AT A GLANCE

Scrabble Wars When: Jan. 25 Where: DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel in Bentonville Information: goliteracy.org

Northwest Profile, Pages 36 on 02/02/2014

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