Through their charitable arm, The Indigo Love Of Reading Foundation, the bookseller, which also runs stores under the Chapters and Coles brands, has organized its annual Adopt A School program as way for Canadians to support local schools in need of books and other literacy-enhancing materials. Running from Sept. 15 to Oct. 7, the online and in-store fundraising initiative aims to raise more than $1 million to help purchase books and other resources for high-needs elementary schools across Canada.
"We believe that the right book at the right moment can change a child’s life forever and yet too many children in high-needs elementary schools have limited access to books due to insufficient funding. All children deserve access to compelling books that can inspire them to fall in love with reading and to become engaged learners," said Ariel Siller, executive director of the Indigo Love Of Reading Foundation, in a statement.
Each of the 600 schools participating in the Adopt A School program for 2018 has its own page at the main fundraising website, and members of the public can donate directly to one or more of those schools. Supporters of a particular school can also share a story on that school’s donation page and the Foundation will donate one book per story to that school (up to a total of 20 books). As well, supporters can "heart" these stories, with the top five most "hearted" stories garnering additional funds from the Foundation for that school.
The program was also designed to bring together schools with their local communities through their local Indigo store and the store’s employees, as number of schools will be "adopted" by an Indigo, Chapters or Coles store in their region. That school will be the beneficiary of all donates made by customers at that store during the duration of the Adopt A School program.
The Indigo Love Of Reading Foundation was formed in 2004 and has raised $28 million since then to help buy books for more than 3,000 high-needs elementary schools across Canada, representing approximately 900,000 students.
Using statistics gleaned from government sources as well as data collected from the Love Of Reading Foundation grant program and the Adopt A School program, Indigo officials recognized there was a growing need for more resources to help improve literacy amongst Canadian elementary school students in high-needs schools.
The numbers show that 30 per cent of third grade students lack basic literacy skills and that many schools in economically disadvantaged communities can afford only one new library book a year for every three children, and that teachers themselves are actually spending about $200 million out of their own pockets on books and other educational materials to make up the deficit in resources.
As an added bonus for the participating schools, they also receive a 30 per cent discount off books at Indigo, Chapters and Coles stores when using program donation funds.
Watch the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation’s Read Between The Lines video:
Nike