Whether it’s a child getting an early start, a young mother looking to upgrade her skills to go back to school, or an individual trying to find a new job, when we make literacy a priority, good things happen: jobs are created, community health improves, poverty is reduced.
This October, Black Press and the Columbia Basin Alliance for Literacy (CBAL) are joining forces to raise funds and awareness about the importance of literacy with the 4th Annual Reach a Reader campaign.
In the West Boundary the 2014 Reach a Reader campaign will kick off on at 11 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 9 in front of the Boundary Creek Times office across the street from the Heritage Credit Union in Greenwood. From 11 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., in exchange for a donation you will receive an issue of the Boundary Creek Times. Your donations will go directly to literacy programs in the Boundary delivered through CBAL, a not-for-profit organization formed in 2001 to promote literacy and life-long learning throughout the Columbia Basin and Boundary communities.
New this year to the campaign is the opportunity to donate online through the month of October.
The money raised online will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Bienfaisance Foundation.
There is a link on the cbal.org website to the Reach a Reader main donation page. Once there, to support community-based literacy programs in your own community just click on your community’s Reach a Reader group from the list on the right of the webpage.
If you don’t see it listed, enter “Boundary” in the “Search for a friend’s group” search box and a link to Reach a Reader - Grand Forks/Boundary will pop up. That way you can make sure the funds donated locally will stay in the community in which they were raised.
CBAL’s vision is that local communities will be healthy, inclusive and committed to literacy and learning as lifelong and life-wide activities. CBAL works closely with libraries, schools, colleges and other community partners in local communities to offer a variety of paths to learning.
Local needs are identified and prioritized through ongoing meetings with key partners from each community. The West Boundary Literacy Group meets twice a year.
To learn more about community-based literacy programs in the West Boundary, contact Sheila Dobie at sdobie@cbal.org.