BY MALLORIE MCCOY FOR THE OBSERVER
LEE COUNTY — After a five-year hiatus, the Lee County Literacy Coalition is bringing back “The Great Grown-Up Spelling Bee” on Thursday, Aug. 28, from 6 to 9 p.m. The 17th fundraising event will be held outdoors at Twenty-One Acres on 5505 Wire Road in Auburn.
Heading this year’s event are literacy coalition program manager Austin Pearson and Erika Martin, VISTA volunteer engagement manager.
Pearson said the event was cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s being brought back to life because of funding cuts.
“This year, funding things has been a little bit harder, across the board, both in terms of individual donors and grants,” Pearson said. “So, we tried to do an additional fundraiser this year to try and help make up the difference with something a little bit more fun, active and approachable.”
The Lee County Literacy Coalition invites local businesses to participate by entering teams of four people, two of whom will compete in the spelling bee while the other two cheer them on from the audience. Team sponsorships are available for $325. Spellers will compete in 90-second rounds to spell as many words correctly as possible. The team to spell the most words correctly will win a trophy.
General admission to witness the spectacle is $40 per person, which includes finger foods from Wilton’s Catering, a signature “Honeypot” whiskey drink created by John Emerald Distillery and non-alcoholic beverages.
Following the spelling bee, the evening will include other competitions, such as Wheel of Fortune and verbal word association games, with winners receiving gift card prizes from Texas Roadhouse, local massage spas and Stinson Breads of Opelika. Also, jars of honey from the AU Bee Lab will be up for grabs.
“We do a spelling bee because we are a literacy nonprofit organization,” Pearson said. “It’s a fun way of doing a spelling bee, but not super hard words. It’s just a way to get the crowd going and fundraise for a good cause.”
The Great Grown-Up Spelling Bee “is not super fancy like how we would do for our ‘Reading Between the Wines’ fundraiser, but more of a casual vibe,” Martin said. “You don’t have to dress up or anything like that, just very chill. It’s fun to mix and mingle within the nonprofit world and get people to know about our cause in a fun way. People love getting to go have a little food, have a little drink and watch a game happen in front of them.”
All proceeds support the Literacy Coalition’s efforts to promote reading. The coalition looks to continue expanding its digital literacy and family literacy programs, to hire an additional instructor and to purchase up-to-date textbooks for learners.
“We have a lot of people that are looking for help right now, and we honestly have more people needing help than we’re able to serve,” Pearson said. “So, we’re trying to help meet a good amount of community needs that we just can’t at our current capacity. That’s why we’re trying to build it up. Bees need a hive in order to make honey — we need you all to help us raise some money.”
For businesses unable to attend the event but still want to contribute to the cause can purchase a program advertisement. The ads range from $50 to $150 depending on the page size selected.
To sponsor a team, obtain general admission tickets, purchase program advertising or show your support with a donation, visit www.leecountyliteracy.org/spellingbee, call the literacy coalition at (334) 705-0001 or send email to info@leecountyliteracy.org.
