Raise-A-Reader: B.C. government backs importance of literacy with support for Sun's campaign

Modelling reading in the home is more than important than ever in these times of online or TV binge-watching, says B.C.’s municipal affairs minister as he announced funding for literacy programs through The Vancouver Sun’s annual Raise-A-Reader campaign.

“I was fortunate that I grew up with a grandfather who never stopped putting books in my hands when I would rather be getting Star War figures,” said Municipal Affairs Minister Nathan Cullen before the province pledged $500,000 to Raise-A-Reader.

He remembered reading the Lord of the Rings, Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland, and he said he has passed on that love of reading on to his twin sons, aged 12, who also were exploring LOTR and continuing their father’s love of reading.

“They’re quite voracious readers,” he said, listing Gordon Korman, Judy Blume and the Harry Potter series as favourites.

“For all time, children have watched and modelled what their parents do, and modelling reading and resisting our temptation to binge-watch, is important,” said Cullen.

Over the past 25 years, Raise-A-Reader has raised more than $21 million, funds that are used for such programs as one-to-one reading and tutoring, StoryWalks, English-language learning, and parent-child Mother Goose sessions.

The funding is crucial for providing resources such as multiple copies of books for the online reading program called Bookworm Friends offered through the Chilliwack Learning Society, said Annette Williams, the centre’s literary outreach co-ordinator. 

Started during COVID, it allowed the older adult volunteers to read to youngsters via Zoom, with the adults and the children each holding a copy of the book.

“We wouldn’t have been able to provide this program without the funding,” she said. 

The centre also funds two other literacy programs, providing high-risk single mothers receiving support through Sardis Doorway the opportunity to choose two books at a pop-up bookstore, and StoryWalk, where laminated pages of a storybook are placed at intervals on an indoor or outdoor walk, during which children stop and read the story.

During the StoryWalk, volunteers meet with the children and their parents in person, a beneficial connection during COVID for both groups, said Williams.

Donations to Raise-A-Reader are administered by Decoda Literacy Solutions, the only province-wide literacy organization.

The 2022 Raise-A-Reader campaign included stories in The Vancouver Sun’s print and online editions to highlight some of the programs it has funded.

More than 700,000 British Columbians have “significant challenges with literacy,” the province said in a release.

Last year, funds raised through Raise-A-Reader helped bring literacy programs to almost 55,000 children and their caregivers through 4,293 programs. And there is still time to donate.

How to donate

Since its launch in 1997, Raise-A-Reader has provided more than $21 million to promote literacy in B.C. The literacy campaign supports programs across the province such as Partners in Education Plus, which is offered by the Canucks Family Education Centre. The Canucks Centre offers literacy programs for families through intergenerational and lifelong learning support that are partly supported by Raise-A-Reader.

You can make a donation any time. Here’s how:

• Online at raiseareader.com

• By cheque, payable to Vancouver Sun Raise-A-Reader:

1125 Howe St., #980

Vancouver, B.C. V6Z 2K8

Facebook: facebook.com/raiseareadervan/

Twitter: @RARvancouver

Literacy is a tool everyone needs

The literacy skills of almost half of British Columbians aged 16 to 65 may make it difficult for them to understand newspapers, following instruction manuals, reading health information, filling out a tax return, reading a rental agreement, or using a library catalogue, according to Decoda Literacy Solutions, B.C.’s provincial literacy organization.

And about half of the province’s population of the same age may have difficulty calculating interest on a car loan, using information on a graph, or determining medicine dosage, according to Decoda, which provides resources, training, funds and support for community-based literacy programs and initiatives in 400-plus B.C. communities.

Some 16 per cent of British Columbians (or 700,000 people) were at Level 1 literacy or below in 2012, according to an international survey (the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies) that 27,000 Canadians participated in.

Level 1 literacy means struggling with filling out a form at work, navigating a website, finding information in a list sent home from preschool, using information on a food label, or comparison shopping.

It says improved literacy at home can help Canadians enjoy better health, manage their finances, understand their rights and responsibilities and legal proceedings and pass on their literacy skills to their children.

At work, it can also improve employment prospects, increase earnings, decrease work-related stress by being more efficient and accurate at work, and increasing their likelihood of participating in adult education and job-related training.

And in the community, it can increase community participation and volunteering, political involvement and increase the likelihood of inclusion in society.

1. Raise-a-Reader: Delta literacy program stresses the importance of reading to even the youngest

2. Raise-a-Reader: 'Education is the key' for families coming to Canada from Afghanistan