MLAs raise funds for Literacy
Once again, MLAs came out on a late September sunny afternoon to support literacy. For the fifth year in a row, Jim Rondeau and Bonnie Korzienowski, together with the Assiniboine Optimist Club,
held their barbecue and booksale to raise money for adult literacy
programs at Stevenson-Britannia and Sturgeon Creek Collegiate.
Meanwhile in St. Vital, Theresa Oswald (MLA for Seine River) was hosting a bookswap for literacy.
At the Sturgeon Creek barbecue, MLA Marilyn Brick read to a group of children. One of her texts was A Day on Crocus Hill with Sweetgrass, by Sharon Williams Franzin and Firmin G. Michiels. Sharon lives in Marilyn's riding. After the reading Marilyn (right), presented the book to LPM executive director Lorri Apps and asked that the book be sent up north. Lorri will pass the book on to LPM board member and librarian Trevor Surgenor as a gift to the Thompson Library.
Other MLAs at the barbecue included Kerri Irvin-Ross (Fort Garry) and Harry Schellenberg (Rossmere).
A highlight of this event was a moving speech by Stevenson-Britannia student Don Fournier who spoke of the challenges of returning to school as an adult. Formerly from Saint-Georges, Quebec, Don talked about his early adventures in English Canada as a construction worker.
Among the entertainers was the girls' choir from Ecole Assiniboine who exhorted the audience to read in three songs by choir director Marcelline Moody: "I Love to Read", "Book, Tale, Tome", and "Everybody Read a Book".
In St. Vital, the famous LPM Word Monster delighted the crowd with his antics.
LPM applauds the MLAs for supporting literacy, and looks forward to more literacy days next year.