My son, when he was 3 years old, was the main reason for me to seek help. He would ask me to read bedtime stories to him, but because I could not read, I would push him away angrily by saying, "I don't have time." As he left the room, I could see his eyes water and a lump would grow in my throat and my heart would ache. I knew that this was not what being a father was all about.

Not long after that, I saw an ad on TV about a free reading program at the San Francisco Public Library. I went in for an interview and was tested as reading at the third grade level. In addition to wanting to read to my son, I wanted to study to pass my GED and get a better job. Many people ask me the same question, "Why didn't you learn to read and write?" When I was in third grade, I was put in a class, oddly enough, for speed reading. The class was held in a large auditorium with an elderly teacher. She was not able to control the kids, so we didn't learn the skills she was teaching us. I had this same reading teacher for the next three years.

When I graduated to seventh grade, I joined the track team and was placed in classes for slow learners. I was assigned a tutor who did my homework for me so that I could stay on the track team. I did well as a runner and was encouraged to focus on training for the Olympics. But suddenly in the ninth grade I injured my leg and my dreams were shattered.

By the eleventh grade, I was so discouraged I just stopped going to school. Without completing school, I enrolled at a local college to study architecture and improve my reading skills. The classroom setting didn't work for me and I dropped out and went to work at low paying jobs.

Once I enrolled in the library's literacy program, I began to feel good about myself. I moved to South San Francisco and continued improving my skills by going to Project Read at the South San Francisco Public Library.

At present, I am active in all aspects of the program. The strengths of Project Read are numerous. I find that there is always plenty of support available. I attend discussion groups and participate in varied activities with other adult learners. When goals are reached, I not only feel self-satisfaction, but receive positive reinforcement from those I work with.

Since I began working with a personal tutor, there have been many positive changes in my life. I have obtained a well-paying and stable job at United Airlines so that I can provide for my family and future. I have taken time off from my work to help out my literacy program and to help promote awareness of the need for free reading programs at work and in the community.

In 1991, I testified before Congress at the Joint Congressional Hearing on Library and Information Services for the literacy community. I have been a founding member of the New Reader Council of the Bay Area, helped plan the Adult Learner Conferences for the Bay Area and have taught numerous workshops to other new readers on public speaking and starting student groups.

I was asked to be on the California Workforce Literacy Task Force to study the literacy need of workers and businesses. I was appointed to represent adult learners. To get information for the Task Force, I wrote letters to all of the students in the ninety-two California library literacy programs like ours. I asked them to send letters directly to me about their needs and ideas. I received more than a hundred letters from all over the state. I read them all and took them to our spring Task Force meeting. You should have seen the faces of my colleagues when I walked in with this boxful of letters. They were impressed! Many of the stories that learners told me were powerful, but one of them broke my heart. It was a letter from a woman who worked at a company for a long time. She had a good work history and was a good employee, so she was offered a promotion. But she turned the promotion down because she didn't feel that she could do the reading and writing that was required. When they asked her why she didn't want the promotion, she told them that she had problems with reading and spelling. The next day, when she came to work, she was fired. This really touched me, because I once had turned down a promotion because I was afraid.

The law that was introduced to and adopted by the California State Legislature in 1991 protects adults who admit that they have literacy problems at work. Employers with twenty-five or more employees must provide information about literacy programs that an adult can attend. This bill also protects the employees from losing their jobs.

When the law passed, I learned first hand that, yes, one person can make a difference. I know that I made a difference on that committee. And because of that one woman's willingness to share her tragic story, many other adults throughout California are now protected from the same thing happening to them.

Without literacy programs, I would never have taken my son to obtain his first library card. Now I read to him and my daughter all of the time without being afraid or embarrassed. My son reads to me and to his classmates and has received high marks in reading and writing. I think I have been able to model to my son how important reading and writing is.