If you don’t consider yourself an avid reader, literacy likely still plays a huge role in your every day life.
Reading a map, ordering from a menu, following a recipe –– these seemingly simple daily routines all require literacy skills — skills that as many as 40 per cent of Cariboo Chilcotin residents struggle with, according to the Cariboo Chilcoin Partners for Literacy (CCPL).
This week marks National Family Literacy Week, and is a great time to consider volunteering your literacy skills with the CCPL, set aside more time to read books or play board games with your children or simply grab a good book and carve out some leisure time to read for yourself.
Family Literacy Week is a national initiative created in 1999 to raise awareness about the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family.
CCPL works toward improving literacy every day and promotes the Reach a Reader campaign throughout the month of January, which we here at the Tribune/Weekend Advisor support fully. It has been said time and time again that taking a few moments every day to read or do a learning activity with children is crucial to a child’s development. Even just 15 minutes a day can improve a child’s literacy skills dramatically, while helping a parent improve their skills as well.
No one believes more in the power of literacy than Lil and Bruce Mack, who have been long-time champions for local literacy.
Bruce is the current president of the CCPL while Lil, a retired librarian, volunteers as a director and treasurer.
CCPL employs a partner-assisted learning co-ordinator to recruit and train 50 volunteer tutors in the Williams Lake and 100 Mile House area to help those with literacy challenges.
Having the ability to read and write opens the door to a whole other world of possibilities and we encourage anyone struggling with literacy to contact the CCPL.
If you have young children, be sure to make the time to take in the CCPL’s Family Fest this Sunday at the Gibraltar Room.
Families will also be able to find out about the many community resources available.
For more, check out our Reach a Reader pages A7, A11, A12 and A13.
- Williams Lake Tribune