Community funders endorse local literacy

Berkshire Community Foundation (BCF) and Englefield Charitable Trust have shown their support for local literacy via grants to local reading charity ABC to Read.

The £3,618 and £750 respective grants have been awarded to support the recruitment of volunteers who will serve as reading mentors to local school children. The youngsters who join the scheme are selected by their schools as those struggling most with their reading and who would strongly benefit from one-to-one support.

BCF has been a long-standing supporter of ABC to Read with grants totalling over £17,000 in recent years. The Englefield Charitable Trust support a broad range of charitable causes in and around Berkshire including education. Through their grants, both organisations recognise the important role that literacy plays in securing future opportunities for young people and the impact that improved reading skills can have on their lives.

Marcia Rowlinson, ABC to Read Chief Operating and Development Officer, said: “Receiving such generous support from funders within our community is a great endorsement of the work we do and the impact that is made in the lives of our local youngsters through improved reading skills. These grants will open the door for more volunteers to be recruited and trained and more children to be given the opportunity to improve their reading and with it, their future opportunities.”

ABC to Read is actively looking for new schools and volunteers to benefit from the scheme. The next volunteer training days are on Monday 11 and Friday 15 April.

For more information or to book onto the next training course, please visit www.abctoread.org.uk  or email [email protected]