Global responsibility Room to Read event

By Joan Mustard

Elsie Roy Elementary is an amazing school for community building and international mindedness. One of the many enjoyable yearly activities that take place at Elsie Roy is the Room to Read fundraiser.

We started with a belief:

• that education, especially for girls, is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty in the developing world.

How we moved forward:

• school-wide awareness about education around the world
• instruction complemented with RTR resources by teachers and librarian
• dressing up as our favourite book characters
• bring a book and buy a book (all books were sold for one dollar)
• students made bookmarks to hand out to students who made a donation or who bought books, which read “I have made a donation to Room to Read.”

Room to Read (www.roomtoread.org) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting education. Founded in 2000, the organization is based on the belief that “World Change Starts with Educated Children,” and the idea that education is crucial to breaking the cycle of poverty in the developing world. By partnering with local communities in the developing world to establish libraries, create local language children’s literature, construct schools, and provide scholarships to girls, Room to Read seeks to intervene early in the lives of children to empower them to improve socio-economic conditions for their families, communities, and countries through education. Since its founding, Room to Read has provided educational resources to 3.1 million children in Asia and Africa. By 2010, Room to Read hopes to improve literacy for five million children by establishing over 10,000 libraries and distributing nearly nine million children's books.

Students at Elsie Roy Elementary School donated books for this event and on our “Room to Read Dress as a Story Book Character Day,” students purchased the donated books for $1. The school is proud to announce $518 was raised by the families of Elsie Roy Elementary in Yaletown, which will support a girl’s education for two years or buy 518 local language children’s books ($250 a year covers uniforms, transportation, usually a daily meal, and school supplies). RTR supports local writers and artists and publishes colourful local language children’s books in countries where little exists for children.

Joan Mustard teaches Grade 1 at Elsie Roy Elementary School, Vancouver.