Vocabulary, orthography weapons of war

Veronica Foster (from left), Literacy Council of Benton County board president, and her teammates compete in the 2019 Scrabble Wars to benefit this council. This year's Scrabble Wars fundraiser is set for Jan. 25 at DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel in Bentonville.
Veronica Foster (from left), Literacy Council of Benton County board president, and her teammates compete in the 2019 Scrabble Wars to benefit this council. This year's Scrabble Wars fundraiser is set for Jan. 25 at DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel in Bentonville.

Strong vocabularies coupled with a knack for orthography, bonus board squares, letter tiles and bribable judges and will all be weapons in teams' arsenals in the 14th annual Scrabble Wars on Jan. 25 at DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel in Bentonville. Along with the Scrabble tournament, the benefit for the Literacy Council of Benton County will include dinner, raffle and live auction. Participants are encouraged to bring extra cash to "bribe" judges and purchase extra letters. Players may choose to compete with a "traditional" or "dubious" team.

Proceeds from the evening will help the group achieve its mission of increasing "adult English literacy by developing volunteer tutors to teach adult students to read and write English, because literacy changes lives."

Scrabble Wars

Who: Literacy Council of Benton County

What: Team Scrabble play, dinner, raffle, live auction

When: 6-9 p.m. Jan. 25

Where: DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel in Bentonville

Tickets: $50; $500 for table sponsorship for table for 10; or $$1,000 for event sponsorship and table for 10

Attire: Casual

Information: (479) 273-3486 or goliteracy.org

Literacy program offerings include adult basic literacy, English as a second language and tutor training. The group serves more than 200 adults annually and relies on trained volunteer tutors to do so. The council currently has some 45 tutors and approximately 80-100 students on a waiting list for an available tutor with a schedule that meshes with their work hours.

The council provides tutor training at no cost to volunteers, but tutors are asked to make a one-year commitment. After training, tutors typically meet with their students twice a week for sessions that are approximately one and a half hours each.

Resources available to tutors include extensive curricula and materials, a lending library and tutor round-tables throughout the year.

-- CARIN SCHOPPMEYER

[email protected]

NAN Our Town on 01/16/2020

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