Literacy – the ability to read and write – is the foundation for education and social development. Yet, hundreds of millions of adults lack minimum literacy skills and millions of school-aged children are not attending school to obtain them.
The Reading Action Program is a ten year commitment to increasing reading and literacy rates. It’s a call to action for every Lions club around the world to organize service projects and activities that underscore the importance of reading and address specific needs to literacy within their own community.
The Strathroy – Caradoc Lions Club has undertaken several initiatives to further literacy. At club meetings, especially when we have guests, we have a prize draw and the prizes include new and recycled books for the ‘winners’ to choose among. Inside the cover of each book is a label indicating that it came from the Strathroy- Caradoc Lions and asking that the book be passed along to someone else when finished with it.
When we take “our show on the road” to events such as Art-In-The-Park, Turkeyfest, Walk for Dog Guides, the Home and Leisure Show, we have a book display and prize draw or ‘give-away’ of books. At a recent Home and Leisure show, we gave away just under one hundred (100) books that had been ‘levelled’ for various aged students (up to grade 8) and allowed visitors to our booth (accompanied by an adult) to choose an appropriate book of their liking – for free.
A major literacy project was the ‘adoption’ of a local school, Mary Wright Public School, in Strathroy. A literacy committee of Lions members worked in partnership with the professional teachers at the school to plan a two day literacy event for every class in the school. A professional author, chosen by the school, was contracted to make a motivational presentation to students, parents, teaching staff and community citizens during an evening. Lions paid for half the author cost, and the School Council paid the rest. All book baskets were donated by Strathroy – Caradoc Lions.
The next day of school, the author made presentations to grade clusters of students with opportunities for question and answer after each presentation. There were “book baskets” assembled by Lions with enough baskets for a ‘ lucky name draw winner’ from each of the five grade groupings. The videos of this event can be seen in our monthly newsletter for the month of April 2015. (All recent newsletters can be seen elsewhere on this website.)