Seeking 100 - Local Organization Seeks Literacy Buddies For Area Children

Dec. 9, 2010 - PRLog -- What if you could help a child in Southwest Florida (Collier, Glades Hendry and Lee Counties) learn to read and write just by sending them a book and a letter? You can! The Early Learning Coalition of Southwest Florida is continuing their program, Literacy Buddies, and is in need of 100 buddies, or volunteers.

A Literacy Buddy agrees to receive letters from a child in an early learning facility served by the Early Learning Coalition. The Buddy, will in turn, send a letter and a high quality book to this child in response. This exchange will take place three times over the course of a school year. The purpose is to teach children about correspondence, communication and instill appreciation of reading. For some of children, this provides the only opportunity to have books of their own at home.

Literacy Buddies has direct, measurable results. In nearly every case the child’s communication skills are positively impacted and visible via letters and verbal communication changes. You can be directly involved in enriching the lives of many children through your participation in this program!

“Exposure to attentive buddies who respond to the child’s interests has resulted in significant improvements in writing skills and curiosity about the world of books and interesting stories,” confirmed Jill Corbett, Assessment Coordinator.

In existence for two years, the purpose of Literacy Buddies is to help young, pre-elementary school aged children develop and excel in literacy. In the past year 1,100 children were matched with Literacy Buddies and there are currently only 100 children remaining that are ready for matching. For more information on the Literacy Buddies initiative or to download an application, please visit http://www.elcofswfl.org/downloads-literacy_buddy_project... or email literacybuddies@gmail.com with your name, address and phone number, or contact Robin Gretz at (239) 210-6886.

The Early Learning Coalition of Southwest Florida exists to enhance the quality of children's lives by providing low-income families, early childhood educators, care-givers and community partners in Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee Counties, with opportunities to positively impact the future. For details on our many services or to donate, please visit http://www.elcofswfl.org or call (239) 267-4105.

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We serve the families of Collier, Glades Hendry and Lee Counties. It is our goal to make certain that children ages birth to five and beyond, have access to high quality early education experiences to cultivate their natural enthusiasm for learning.