Seventeen institutions throughout the Territory are recipients of a donation of children and teen themed books courtesy the BVI Reading Council.

The donation is a result of a book drive launched by the council to help in the ongoing battle against illiteracy.

Co-President of the Reading Council, Mrs. H. Lynden Smith said the original idea was to place books at Health Clinics and Community Centres, but due to unforeseen circumstances, the council was unable to do so.

Mrs. Smith said, “Consequently, the decision was made to make donations to institutions instead. Lack of access to books is known to be the leading cause of childhood illiteracy therefore I requested assistance from two of my friends from abroad to hold this mammoth book drive.”

Mrs. Smith said she emailed long-time family friend, Marj Andre of Richmond Hill in Ontario, Canada and Jessica Crupi, a teacher at the Pound Ridge Elementary School in Pound Ridge Road, New York for their assistance with the book drive initiative. She said the response was quick, forceful and overwhelming.

Mrs. Smith added, “Collecting the books was one thing but getting them to the BVI was another. It was with the assistance of the Rotary Club of Road Town and the contribution from Marj Andre’s husband, Kurt, which made it possible for four barrels of books to arrive via Tropical Shipping earlier this year.”

Special thanks and heartfelt appreciation were extended on behalf of the council to the Rotary Club of Road Town, especially Mr. Ryan Geluk; Ms. Janette Brin of CCT; Reading Specialist, Ms. Beverly Donovan; Ms. Bernadette McKelly; Permanent Secretary, Dr. Marcia Potter and the Ministry of Education and Culture; Mr. Orien Donovan and the Government Information Service.

The BVI Reading Council was established as a non-profit, voluntary, professional organisation in 1995 with a mandate to foster the love of reading throughout the Territory. The council works alongside the Ministry of Education and Culture to fulfil its mandate.

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NOTE TO EDITOR(S): The institutions receiving book donations included two Early Childhood Centres, Eslyn Henley Richiez Learning Centre, Student Support Services at Elmore Stoutt High School, Enid Scatliffe Pre-Primary, Althea Scatliffe Primary, Ivan Dawson Primary, Leonora Delville Primary, Ebenezer Thomas Primary, Enis Adams Primary, Alexandrina Maduro Primary, Joyce Samuel Primary, Willard Wheatley Primary, Bregado Flax Educational Centre, Robinson O’Neal Memorial, Claudia Creque Learning Centre and Jost Van Dyke Primary.