LEE, Mass. — The Literacy Network (LitNet) will honor John Toole, LitNet Board Member and President of Acrisure (formerly Toole Insurance Agency), at its annual fundraising celebration, A Celebration of Friends, which will be held at Amici Restaurant in West Stockbridge on Friday, Sept. 20, starting at 6 PM.

 

LitNet's annual celebration is a main source of fundraising for the organization's year-round, individualized, free tutoring programs in ESOL, US citizenship preparation, adult basic education, and first-generation college support. In recent years, LitNet has made an effort to make this annual celebration more inclusive to its learner community—95 percent of which is immigrants working on English skills.

 

For 44 years, John Toole has maintained and grown his family business as President of Toole Insurance Agency (now Acrisure). He has served as Chair for the Chesterwood Museum Council, the Lenox Library Association Board, and the Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents and as President of the Lee Community Development Board. He is the Founder and Director of the Brock Wilkerson Memorial Fund, past Director of the Brock Trot Road Race, Co-Founder of the Lee Youth Soccer League, and has coached youth basketball, softball, and football. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Literacy Network where he chairs the Peoples and Operations Committee. 

 

"John is a natural leader," said  LitNet's Executive Director, Leigh Doherty. "He has such a "knack for personal connection and professionalism—qualities that have benefitted LitNet through his service and that have made him so well-known throughout our Berkshire Community. We look forward to a night of celebrating his legacy in our community!"

 

LitNet chose Amici as its venue for the event because of its ties with the restaurant's co-owner, Octavio Nallin. Nallin, a Brazilian immigrant who has been in the U.S. for over four years, worked on his English with LitNet before opening Amici. He is now working with LitNet to become a U.S. citizen as one of this year's recipients of the Matthew and Hannah Keator Family Scholarship for New Americans.