The Moore County Literacy Council has received an $8,000 grant from Dollar General Literacy Foundation to support its advocacy for adult literacy for the third consecutive year.

aIt is unusual for Dollar General to support a single program for more than two years in a row,a said Sandy Waterkotte, chairman of MCLC.

aIf one of our students is a single parent with five kids and works a 9-to-5 job, then itas going to be hard for them to make an improvement,a she said.

MCLC received a $7,000 grant from Dollar General Literacy Foundation in 2014 to strengthen program support for the 25 lowest performing students. It received an $8,000 grant in 2015 to support the 30 lowest performing students.

This yearas grant will support the 35 lowest performing students.

Waterkotte said in order to secure the grant, MCLC kept records of studentsa progress to demonstrate the positive effect and growth of the program.

aWhen they first get here, we test our students to see where to start and we continue to test them every year to evaluate their improvement,a she said. aIn a way, itas not the salary the grant is going to but itas going towards paying for someone to administer the program.a

Dollar Generalas commitment to literacy and education is rooted through the Dollar General Literacy Foundation and the companyas co-founder, J.L.

Turneras grandson and former CEO of Dollar General, Cal Turner Jr., founded the Dollar General Literacy Foundation in 1993.

Since then, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation has awarded more than $120 million in grants to nonprofit organizations.