"Sponsors of Literacy"

In Brandt's article, "Sponsors of Literacy," she goes into detail about the relations between sponsors and sponsorships. Sponsors, as Brandt describes them, are the "figures who turned up most typically in people's memories of literacy learning: older relatives, teachers, priests, supervisors, military officers, editors, influential authors" (335). Brandt agrees that sponsors never lend out their resources in an altruistic manner. There is always gain. Both ends are mutually getting something out of the agreement. Their gain might not be obvious, it might for example, be a gain they recieve somewhere down the line in the future. One example that I can relate to is a program I volunteer for called "Respite." It is a program designed for my major (communication sciences and disorders) in which you pair up with a partner and get assigned to visit an individual with some kind of disability for two hours every week. The idea is to give the care giver a break, as well as give the individual with the disability some entertainment. What I gain out of this volunteer program is not only a resume builder, but also experience with all different kinds of people, which will help me in the working world.
An example used in the text has to do with Little League baseball players who's jerseys have logos of a local insurance company on their uniforms. They don't wear the logos because they care if people buy the product, they just want to be able to afford to play ball.