Call it the ripple effect.
One woman, who will remain anonymous but was surely known to – and admired by – many Islanders, made a significant difference in a number of lives.
She was a homemaker devoted to working with children who struggled with reading and writing.
It was back in the 1960s when one-room schools were the norm that the caring P.E.I. woman ran an after-school program from her home.
In tutoring with a genuine and compassionate purpose, she helped improve the literacy of one child after another.
One student, who met up with her a few years ago at a social event. thanked the former tutor for having a profound impact on his life. He told the woman she helped him, when he was a child, improve his skills and boost his confidence. The extra help set him on the right path.
His life has been a success, in no small part, due to the woman’s special help many years ago.
Others, one might suspect, were similarly bolstered by the woman’s determined tutoring.
One of her own children, call her Bonnie, notes the woman did more than her part to instill a love of reading in the children she worked with and in her own children.
Bonnie lost her mother recently – that wonderful tutor - but wanted to contribute to the ripple effect that began in the 1960s with the after-school program.
To that end, Bonnie has anonymously donated a mutual fund worth approximately $35,000 towards the P.E.I. Literacy Alliance’s Give the Gift of Literacy campaign.
Make a donation
Donations to the P.E.I. Literacy Alliance’s Give the Gift of Literacy campaign can be made online at www.peiliteracy.ca, by credit card over the phone at 902-368-1810, in person at the literacy office in the Sherwood Business Mall, 161 St. Peter’s Rd., Charlottetown, or by mail to the P.E.I. Literacy Alliance at box 20107, P.E.I., C1A 9E3.
She explained that she was making the large donation in memory of her mother.
“My hope is that our story encourages others to donate,’’ says Bonnie. “The need is huge.’’
Jinny Greaves, executive director of the Alliance, calls the donation a beautiful legacy for Bonnie’s mother and for the literacy work the woman did.
“Her mother had a lasting impact on at least one student, and likely many more like him,’’ says Greaves.
