Raising Funds in the Year of Readers

I would like to announce that I have signed up for the Year of Readers!

This year-long event has been organized by Jodie to help readers spread their love of reading and the beneficial effects of literacy. When you sign up, you commit to raising money for the literacy charity of your choice throughout 2009, by getting friends and relatives to pledge you, or in any other wild and crazy way you can come up with. So far there are 25 participants and a wide variety of charities (which Jodie has listed on the blog so you can easily explore the many wonderful charities working on literacy based outreach whenever you wish.)

I've chosen as my charity the Public Library on Wheels (PLOW), an outreach effort of my own library. This is a program which takes books and also family literacy events and story programs to under-served areas of our rural community. One of the highly anticipated events of the year, created by our amazing PLOW programmer, is the Family Literacy Day Enchanted Adventure. (similar to her original event, Night at the Library). It's held at the local mall in partnership with mall management, school boards, and a bunch of other local family/children's organizations. It is amazing, really; storytellers, costumed fairy tale characters, treasure hunts, crafts and activities...lots and lots of FREE family fun, all based around reading and books. It's a huge hit. PLOW is running short of funds this year so I will do my readerly best to keep it going.

To donate in 2009, email me for information on per-book pledging, or go directly to my online giving page at CanadaHelps. Along with Jodie and the Year of Readers blog, there will be various events throughout the year to keep us all going. This sounds like a lot of fun and a way to help out by doing more of what I love most: reading.