Literacy New Westminster is looking to fill “literacy gaps” through a variety of endeavours in New West.
The City of New Westminster has proclaimed September as Literacy Month, which is part of the provincewide Literacy is Life campaign spearheaded by Decoda Literacy Solutions, B.C.’s provincial literacy organization. The purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness of the importance of literacy and community-based resources and to raise money to support community-based literacy programs, initiatives and organizations.
Literacy New Westminster is holding a book fair on Sunday, Sept. 20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parking lot near the Canada Games Pool and Centennial Community Centre. People are invited to drop off “gently used” books and/or to purchase books on a by-donation basis.
“If they want to give $1, if they want to give $10, everything is fine,” Venable said. “If people don’t have any money, just take and enjoy.”
People will also be able to learn about literacy programs and resources available in New Westminster.
“We are also going to have arts and crafts, which will be bookmark making,” Venable said. “We will have music, face painting. We are going to have some snacks and coffee.”
Literacy New Westminster’s mandate is to promote adult, child and family literacy through a variety of free and low-cost programs, events and book distributions.
“For us this is not about raising a big amount of funds, it’s about raising awareness and increasing our visibility in New Westminster,” Venable said of the book fair.
Literacy New Westminster doesn’t have any literacy statistics specific to the Royal City, but Venable said schools are seeing increasing vulnerabilities, with literacy skills being one of the factors. She said statistics show that 40 per cent of adults in British Columbia have difficulty reading a newspaper, filling out a work application form, reading a map or understanding a lease.
According to the Decoda Literacy Solutions, literacy is not just the ability to read or write, but also the ability for people to use computers, read and fill out online materials such as service agreements and job applications, the ability to read prescription labels and use social media. The non-profit organization states that 49 per cent of B.C. adults don’t have the skills necessary to calculate a tip, create a budget, calculate sales tax or understand credit card interest rates.
“It’s about learning the skills you need to get by on a day-to-day basis,” Venable said of literacy. “A lot of it has to do with reading and writing and language skills.”
Increasingly, literacy also includes “health literacy”, which is learning how to keep yourself healthy and “physical literacy” which is about introducing the importance of exercise and the need to move.
“The word literacy is thrown around a lot these days – physical literacy, health literacy, those sorts of things,” Venable told the Record. “In those cases literacy is often tied to the word learning - learning about being physical, active and exercising, learning about health.”
Literacy New Westminster has funded and supported various initiatives including book shares, summer reading flash mobs, ESL for grandparents, literacy programs, Mother Goose programs for little ones, reading circles, book distributions at the Santa Claus Parade and book shares. In the near future, you’ll find a new Literacy New Westminster page on Facebook.
