Literacy fundraiser tops $11,000
Community donations have helped pave the way to place about 2,800 books in the hands of local youngsters.
Last fall, local Kiwanian Cathy Telfer started a fundraising effort in memory of her late sister, Sandy Parker, to help raise literacy levels in the municipality. The Kiwanis Club of Chatham-Kent is part of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library (DPIL), where children from infancy to age five sign up and receive a book a month.
During the fundraiser, Telfer pledged to match donations, up to $5,000, setting the bar at an even $10,000. However, donations continued to fuel the initiative, topping out at $11,090.
“I was so happy with the response. Some came from (club) members, some from people we know, and some from strangers,” she said. “The community is pretty amazing. It’s really gratifying.”
The funds raised will power the program for more than half a year.
“When we calculated it out, it buys pretty close to 2,800 books. That’s almost seven months of books,” Telfer said.
The Chatham-Kent element of the DPIL has 427 children in the program at the moment, with a waiting list of about 50 more, Telfer said.
The books sent out to the children are age appropriate.
These books are free to families but cost approximately $45 per year, which is covered by the Kiwanis Club.
The club has taken on children’s literacy as a specific focus of choice, Telfer said. Hence partnering with DPIL.
About 40 per cent of the hardcover books sent out by the Imagination Library are either written by Canadian authors, have images from Canadian illustrators, or are from Canadian publishers.
Telfer said the program should receive a boost in the summer, as the Kiwanis have been selected as one of the charities to benefit from the C-K Charity Classic golf tournament in August.
“We (Kiwanis Club of Chatham) have become quite devoted to the DPIL. We’ve been fortunate to get grants from the C-K Community Foundation and South Kent Wind Fund and from the 100 Women Who Care. But we’ve been adding children as we get those grants and we have a commitment to sustain the children we have,” Telfer said previously.
The Kiwanis Club is a volunteer organization dedicated to serving the children of the world.
