Literacy, Dignity, and a Garage Full of Scrap

Hunched over a workbench in his backyard shed, 70-year-old Kenneth Kolberg peers over his glasses as he dissects a small desk fan. Dim fluorescents illuminate the clutter around him: hand tools, office supplies, and boxes packed with circuit boards.

“Nothing’s too hard,” Kolberg said with a grin. “It’s all easy come, easy go.” 

Originally from Wisconsin, Kolberg moved to Santa Barbara in 1972 and worked at the Costco food court for 24 years before retiring in 2022. Since then, he’s devoted himself to turning trash into treasure.

His hair has greyed, but his cheeks remain rosy. He’s a chipper fellow with a sunny disposition and a lot of heart — a passion that he funnels into his new hobby.  

Part metalworker, part student in the Adult Literacy Program at the Santa Barbara Public Library, Kolberg now spends six to eight hours a day dismantling discarded appliances, electronics, and scrap materials so they can be properly recycled instead of dumped in the already overcrowded landfill.

“There’s so much people throw away that they don’t have to throw away,” he said, shaking his head. It’s especially true in Santa Barbara County, where, on average, we produce nine pounds of trash per person — double the rate of the average American. “If only people knew,” Kolberg said.

You can see his dedication by peeking into his garage. It’s stacked with lawn decorations, microwaves, radios, blenders, and other scrap items waiting to be sorted piece by piece. A friend introduced him to recycling e-waste two years ago, and Kolberg ran with it, drawing on handyman skills passed down by his father-in-law.

“Whatever’s in there, I save it — the metals, the wires, everything,” he said.

Once he’s finished dismantling and sorting, Kolberg calls up Santa Barbara Iron and Metal Recyclers to haul the materials away. The checks he receives range from $20 to $200, money he uses for things such as gifts for his wife. Anything left over — batteries, plastic — gets recycled elsewhere.

“And then nothing is being wasted,” he said.

Every week, Kolberg meets with his literacy tutor, Philip Prinz, at the library. Alongside reading and writing lessons, the pair brainstorm ways to grow his operation. Kolberg pulled a handwritten essay from a bulging suitcase of papers. Across the top of the notebook page, he had written: Helping the Community and the Environment Through My Metal Work. Most of it, he said proudly, he wrote himself with only “minimal help” from Prinz.

Kolberg has also started drafting flyers for neighbors advertising his “new hobby.” Next up: a business card.

“I’ve learned a lot, and it’s been paying off,” Kolberg told Prinz.

Prinz beamed. “I’ve learned a lot too,” he replied.

For the past two years, the pair have met regularly through the library’s Adult Literacy Program, reading articles together, building vocabulary, and practicing spelling, pronunciation, and grammar. Kolberg pulled out a print copy of News for You, reading aloud the front headline: “Soaring Gas Prices Worry U.S. Consumers.” 

When they encounter unfamiliar words, Kolberg looks them up in his large-print dictionary. “And then I make sense out of it,” he said. 

When he first joined the program, Kolberg said his reading level was “pretty low.”

“You’ve come a long way,” Prinz told him.

The library’s literacy program serves adults across Santa Barbara County who want to improve their reading, writing, or English skills, often after years of struggling with learning disabilities, limited education, or language barriers. The service is free, and the tutors are all volunteers.

But the 38-year-old program is stretched thin. While 74 students are currently enrolled, another 17 remain on a waitlist because there are not enough tutors available.

Funding has also become increasingly uncertain. Last year, federal support through the Institute of Museum and Library Services — which distributes millions in grants to libraries across California — was threatened amid ongoing budget battles in Washington. 

It was the all-too-familiar “whiplash” effect dealt by the current administration, said Lauren Trujillo, executive director of the Santa Barbara Library Foundation. Grants that libraries typically rely on for programs like adult literacy were paused or thrown into limbo, she explained, leaving them scrambling to fill the gap.

“Even though the funding is coming back, that’s not funding we have right now to continue serving these people,” Trujillo said. “It’s debilitating for libraries.”

It’s something that she described as an “unprecedented situation” prompting an “emergency response,” as the Library Foundation has turned to seeking private donations. 

“It’s never been in question that these programs would be at risk,” she said. “Especially as literacy has become more of a priority for the state.” The foundation has launched a campaign to raise $150,000, including a literacy-themed fundraiser.

The service is incredibly important for people such as Kolberg, who struggled with learning as a kid and did not pursue higher education after high school. When he learned about the program two years ago, he decided to seek help to improve his reading ability. 

“There’s up to 25 adults at a time waiting to be paired with an adult literacy tutor,” Trujillo explained. “That’s 25 people like Kenneth, who are not getting the one-to-one support that they need, or falling deeper into systemic issues and struggles.”

A lot of the adults in the program are “just trying to get a better grasp on English to lift themselves up in the community,” she said.

For many students, the program offers more than reading and writing practice. It offers dignity and humanity. 

“The library makes it okay to ask for help, not a handout,” Trujillo said.

When Kolberg heard about the funding struggles, he suggested that he could pitch in by investing some of his recycling proceeds back into the program.

“I keep myself very busy doing what needs to be done, and it’s paying off in a big, big way,” he said. “It can’t get any better than what we can do to support our own community … and I like doing it. I’m just doing what I can to make our community better.”

For more information about volunteering to become an adult literacy tutor, visitsbplibrary.org/volunteer. Learners can make an appointment for an intake assessment by visiting sbplibrary.org/adultliteracy.