A cheaply-made plastic toy that fails after a few months, or knowledge?
Regardless of your income, you can give the latter to some 550 Hartford schoolchildren.
That’s the number of youth who are served by Everybody Wins! CT, a literacy organization based on Arbor Street. Statewide, they provide reading assistance to approximately 800 students between the ages of 5-18, annually.
The organization explains that “50 percent of the chronically unemployed are not functionally literate– in Hartford 68 percent of adults are illiterate.”
A literate population is a more employable population.
One goal of the organization is to give three new (or like new) books per year to each child who is in the Everybody Wins! Power Lunch program.
While monetary donations are always welcome, Allison Holst-Grubbe — Program Manager at Everybody Wins! CT — says the need for Reading Mentors is great. “Reading Mentors volunteer weekly or bi-weekly throughout the school year. If people aren’t available for that commitment but still want to contribute some time, workplace/neighborhood book drives are hugely helpful,” says Holst-Grubbe.
This organization is not the only one requesting volunteers and donations during the winter holiday season. Hands On Hartford, House of Bread, Interval House, Mi Casa, and True Colors are just a few of the other Hartford-based organizations that are providing the community with needed services.
