Big Draws!

In the photo on the left, Sylvia Wiebe Mason, Chairperson and Joan Macdonald, Vice Chair are pictured pulling the winner for one pair of 2008 Winnipeg Blue Bomber season tickets, courtesy of the Bombers. The lucky winner is Masami Giesbrecht of Winnipeg. 

All Literacy Partners of Manitoba members who hold non-profit organization memberships were entered into a draw to win one of three certificates to use to purchase resources and/or books for their programs. Sylvia and Joan pulled the following organizations:

$400 certificate - Military Resource Centre, Winnipeg
$300 certificate - Community Adult Learning Centre, Flin Flon
$200 certificate - Samaritan House, Brandon

Sylvia and Joan join LPM in congratulating the winners. (Winners, you will receive a letter with more details about your prize.) We also want to express our thanks to all of you who purchased calendars. 

Proceeds from the sale of the calendars will allow LPM to repeat the draw in September to mark Literacy Month (LPM's non-profit organization members are automatically entered) and purchase some new resources for LPM's library and resource centre.  Debra Litkowich, Resource Centre Coordinator, will be contacting you for suggestions of what you would like to see added. The resources are here for our members' use. 

Manitoba Reads literacy calendars raised just over $9,000 net for literacy. Thank you Sylvia, Joan, Angela (graphic designer) and Merlin (photographer) for bringing Sylvia's idea, Manitoba Reads, to fruition.

Sylvia and Joan are both school teacher/librarians.  Seeing first hand the importance of literacy they are already talking about working with LPM to do another project to raise funds to support literacy.  Stay tuned!  

Submitted by Lorri Apps, Executive Director, Literacy Partners of Manitoba

Shauna Fay, the coordinator of the literacy program at the John Howard Society, is this year’s recipient of the professional development bursary for practitioners.  Shauna plans to take courses at Mediation Services to help her develop a greater understanding of her communication style and to develop new techniques to use with her students and staff at the Winnipeg Remand Centre. 

Congratulations Shauna, we look forward to hearing about your courses at our Annual General Meeting in November!

At the February Board of Directors meeting the executive for 2008 was selected.  Remaining on the executive for a second year are:

*LPM is proud to have new board members join us this year. These new faces were officially welcomed during LPM's Annual General Meeting on November 27, 2007. 

Board members will represent the membership until the first meeting following LPM's Annual General Meeting, which is usually held in November.  Contact board members by calling 947-5757 or sending an e-mail to their attention at literacy@mb.literacy.ca.

On Friday, February 8, 2008 LPM hosted a breakfast for practitioners. Guest speakers included Marilyn McKinnon, Executive Director of Learning Disabilities Association of Manitoba and Lorraine Kaczor from LITERACYWORKS.

Both Marilyn and Lorraine presented on learning disabilities, learning assessments that are available and clarified the services their organizations offer.

It was also a great opportunity for practitioners to meet, mingle, share ideas and browse books to borrow from LPM’s resource centre.

Over a four-day span (February 7 - 8 and 11 - 12) Charles Moody, LPM’s Plain Language guru, trained 11 new Plain Language writers.

Professional writers from Manitoba Hydro, Elections Manitoba and Nine Circles Community Health Centre tapped into Charles’ expertise to develop awareness and proficiency in Plain Language Writing. The training events were jointly sponsored by LPM and The Winnipeg Foundation’s Community Plain Language Project.

The evaluations were excellent! Participants liked using examples from their own workplaces and valued the hands-on practice as well as the “friendly, laid-back atmosphere” and Charles’  “clear presentations”.

Our next Plain Language training sessions will be at the end of April. If you are interested in developing your Plain Language skills (and such skills will be needed in every public organization due to the influx of adults with low English/ French literacy skills), please email Rob Sarginson for more information.

Submitted by Rob Sarginson, Project Manager

Canwest Raise-a-Reader is supported by the Canwest Global Foundation, the Winnipeg Free Press and Literacy Partners of Manitoba. This year the program is pleased to offer up to $2,500 in funding for existing family literacy programs and up to $5,000 for new programs developed by organizations not previously funded by Raise-a-Reader grants.

Click here to download the updated application form for the Raise-A-Reader Grant. Applications must be received by April 15, 2008.

The Morden Parent & Child Resource Centre (PCRC) celebrated Family Literacy Day (January 27, 2008) with their annual Preschool Family Fun Carnival in the rec room at Morden Collegiate. 

Each child was given a passport with pictures to lead them around 10 different stations, including ring tossing John Deere tractor toys, tossing stuffed animals back into the barn, guessing which cup the panda bear was under and face painting. Volunteer students from Ecole Morden Middle School looked after these stations and provided a stamp on the child’s passport page. 

When the passport was filled with stamps, the children were able to choose a free small toy.  Hot dogs, fresh vegetables/dip and juice boxes were supplied by the Morden CO-OP and parents utilizing the PCRC supplied Rice Krispie cake during the course of the event. 

Guest readers, which included an early years teacher, a middle years principal, a Morden police officer and a local Beaver leader, provided a story every half hour and drew a name for a free book at the end of their story.

Submitted by Karen Wowk, Coordinator Morden Parent & Child Resource Centre

Mark March 15, 2008 on your calendar. Frontier College’s SCRABBLE® Friends & Family Challenge starts at 1:30pm at the Children's Museum (45 Forks Market Road). Call 253-7993 to register as a team or individual.  $10 for adults and $2 for children. Register a team of 4 for $35. Click here for a poster or download a registration form here.

The Manitoba Foster Family Network Inc is hosting the annual National Foster Family Conference (May 27-29) and their annual Provincial Conference (May 30-June 1).  Both events will be held at the Royal Crown Banquet and Conference Centre in Fort Garry Place (83 Garry Street behind the Fort Garry Hotel).  On Saturday May 31 from 9am to 4pm there will be a trade fair. The cost for a table is $50.00. For more information, visit www.mffn.ca or call Lisa Moxam, Community Development Worker at 940-1282.

St Amant is presenting a conference in October on Developmental Disabilities and Autism. There is presently a call for papers. For more information, email call4papers@stamant.mb.ca or visit www.stamant.mb.ca.

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine maintains a website with resources for locating materials in other languages: http://nnlm.gov/outreach/consumer/multi.html.

Find hundreds of materials in 10 different languages at: www.healthinfotranslations.com, http://healthliteracy.worlded.org/ or www.healthyroadsmedia.org.

An online course "Basics of Adult Literacy Education" has just been published online at the C-PAL web site. This course for educators provides an overview of adult education concepts. Access or review the course by visiting http://www.c-pal.net/course/index.html.

If you've visited LPM's website, you've seen our latest Featured Learner Writer, Grace Kirton.

We invite learners to submit their work. Please see the submissions guidelines and poster. Questions? Please email Andrea at: communications@mb.literacy.ca.

Writing from learners and practitioners on the theme of New Beginnings is being accepted for the latest issue of Write On! The deadline is March 15, 2008.

Please email submissions in Word format, along with digital photos (if available) to: communications@mb.literacy.ca. Don’t forget to fax the release form to: 956-9315.

Questions? Email Andrea at: communications@mb.literacy.ca.