ORANGE PARK – Alexander Peretyagin, heads out early to work at his mechanical engineering job at Wood Group and Pratt Whitney. In addition to his work day, he also has on schedule the usual end-of-the-year job performance evaluation.

After clocking in at 7 a.m., Peretyagin immediately walks to the manager’s office to get his evaluation. He’s nervous, hoping his manager will be pleased with his work.

As he nears the office, he reflects on how beneficial this job has been for him and his family, who had emigrated from Russia in 2000. This job gives him financial stability and allows him to apply his mechanical knowledge in aviation engines.

Although the evaluation is good, with the manager praising his work, there is one condition for his employment to be continued. Peretyagin must improve his stumbling English. Stronger English skills would be necessary if he were to expand his duties and communicate better with coworkers.

The catch – he had six months to learn.

Luckily, Peretyagin’s wife knew about the Clay County Literacy Coalition, and he immediately decided to give it a try.

The 61-year-old Peretyagin is only one of the 1,700 Clay County residents to benefit from the coalition’s programs. Since its foundation in 1995, the coalition has helped foreign adults such as this Middleburg man learn English. The program has also helped illiterate Clay County residents learn to read and write. The help has also extended to GED and U.S. citizenship classes.

Approximately five years have passed since Peretyagin began the program and since he met Middleburg resident, Virginia Hash, former president of the coalition.

From the start, Hash has been Peretyagin’s tutor. She asked him what type of help he needed and Peretyagin said he wanted to speak English well and especially improve his pronunciation.

“She understands my problem,” Peretyagin said. “She said ‘Alex your problem is because you talk very fast. You have to talk slowly and people can understand you because if you talk fast nobody knows what you are talking about’.”

Peretyagin has followed Hash’s advice since then. He has improved his English speaking, reading and writing skills in.

And Peretyagin was not the only one to value such progress. His manager was also delighted and decided to continue employing Peretyagin. He stayed in his job for approximately four more years until the company transferred to Connecticut.

But before the Jacksonville branch closed, the company gave Peretyagin and other employees a letter. The company offered Peretyagin to transfer to Connecticut. The engineer did not follow because he was established in Florida.

But it was a solid indication of how far he’d come.

Peretyagin is only one of the many success stories told by coalition volunteers. Hash is in many of those success stories as she began volunteering there 16 years ago.

For Hash, the coalition is a dedicated group who works hard to help the community. She said the program focuses on adding members who enjoy working with people and who want students to learn essential skills.

“First of all I can’t image anyone not being able to read. I think that’s very important,” Hash said. “They need high school education in order to get a job. People who are not native speakers need those speaking skills in order to function as a part of the U.S. citizenship.”

Hash said the program counts on a diverse student population. She said, at one point, the program had students from 23 different countries. Some students are in good economic condition while others need jobs. Overall, the students just want to learn and improve.

Programs such as Clay County’s can be found locally, nationally and internationally.

“The need for literacy is everywhere,” Hash said.

Hash isn’t the only vocal supporter of the coalition. The president of the Clay Florida Economic Development Corporation, Bill Garrison, sees the program as a great platform.

“I think it’s (the coalition) a great tool to have here. It’s a great asset for the community to know there is that kind of support. In Clay County, I think you see that a lot,” Garrison said. “There is a good safety net here in Clay County to help pick people out or to catch them.”

Garrison said his job requires promoting economic growth in Clay County. He needs to recruit new companies, support current companies’ growth and help entrepreneurs achieve success in innovations. But in order to achieve all this, Garrison said it is important to have an educated community.

“The better educated people are, the better it is for the workforce,” he said. “The easier it is for me to go out recruit new companies.”

Garrison said he has only met three people who can’t read. These situations made him realize how knowing to read is taken for granted.

“If I met someone like that I would certainly refer them to these various resources,” Garrison said. “Imagine if you didn’t have that safety net. Then what?”

At the moment, Peretyagin still takes advantage of the program with once-a-week lessons Hash offers him at her house. He is thankful for both Hash and the coalition for helping him realize the opportunities in this country.

“This is a professional program for me,” Peretyagin said. “It really helped me. It is No. 1.”

Editor’s Note: Reporter Brenda Zelaya interviewed Virginia Hash in September for this article. Hash passed away on Oct. 30.