LEE, Mass. The Literacy Network of South Berkshire (LitNet) announced the grand opening of the Susan Weintraub Tutor Resource Center at the LitNet headquarters on 32 Park St.

 

This new center will be a space for LitNet tutors and learners as well as the LitNet staff home base. A grand opening ceremony and gathering of Weintraub’s family, friends, and the LitNet staff and board will take place on Sunday, October 23 at 2 PM. 

 

Susan Weintraub, who passed away on Feb. 19, 2022, was a longtime LitNet tutor and supporter as well as a board member for eleven years. Having received a master's degree from Columbia University in Speech Therapy, Weintraub brought educational expertise to the LitNet team. She was also a part of the LitNet development committee, participating in fundraisers. Her passions were tutoring immigrants in English and helping people in any sort of capacity.

 

The Tutor Resource Center in Weintraub's memory has been made possible by the Susan Weintraub Memorial Fund.  

 

"It's been a very active time at LitNet, and it is a welcome relief to have a new home base in which to keep growing as an organization," said LitNet's Executive Director Leigh Doherty. "Sue's family and colleagues believe that our new Center is very much in the spirit of Sue's generosity and aligns with the vision she had for a literate and engaged Berkshire community." 

 

This new space (located just below LitNet's current operational office) is a three-room suite: an entrance office; a meeting room that will serve as workspace for tutor-learner pairs to meet, for LitNet staff to enroll new tutors and learners, and that will house four computers with ready-to-use language-learning resources; and a third room that will house LitNet's library collections: The Susan Weintraub Professional collection, The Donald. C. McGraw Foundation literature collection, and The Ruth Krauss children's literature collection. During regular business hours, the Resource Center will maintain an open-door policy for any current or prospective LitNet tutor or learner. LitNet will continue to maintain its resource and tutor space in the Lee Library, which has served as its central location for 31 years, since the organization's founding in 1991.