Indigo Love of Reading Foundation announces annual $1.5 million in grants to Canadian high-needs elementary schools

Originally posted on Newswire by Indigo Love of Reading Foundation 

TORONTO, May 30, 2019 /CNW/ – This week, 30 high-needs elementary schools across Canada learned that they would benefit from the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation’s annual $1.5 million in Literacy Fund grants. Indigo, Chapters and Coles stores across the country hosted community celebrations at their local grant school, where they revealed the grant amount and honoured the school’s achievements and dedication to literacy.

From sparking imagination to developing literacy skills at an early age, books play a crucial role in the lives of children and help them achieve future success. Many students across Canada have limited access to books at home and they rely on their schools to provide early exposure to books and ignite a love of reading. Unfortunately, due to inadequate public funding, Canadian elementary schools struggle with offering healthy libraries that contain new and engaging material.

“The pervasive lack of books in Canadian high-needs elementary schools creates a devastating roadblock for many educators as they strive to teach their students to read,” said Ariel Siller, Executive Director of the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation. “Our goal is to bridge the public funding gap and offer Canadian teachers and students the books and literacy resources they need to create powerful and enriching learning environments. Thanks to the support of Indigo employees and customers, we have the incredible opportunity to make a difference in the lives of thousands of children and inspire them to fall in love with reading.”

The Indigo Love of Reading Foundation’s grants provide high-needs schools with an opportunity to grow their libraries and place more books in the hands of children in their communities. In addition to replacing resources that are damaged beyond repair as well as books with outdated material that are often 20 or more years old¹, teachers and students can choose books that reflect the needs of their classrooms and communities, thereby strengthening a love of reading, as well as impacting their educational and future successes.

As a result of this year’s Literacy Fund grants, over 9,000 students across the country will attend schools that have funds for more than 150,000 books over the next three years.

The 2019 Indigo Love of Reading Foundation Literacy Fund grant recipients:
Abbott School, Alberta
Ashmont School, Alberta
Ted Harrison School, Alberta
Airport Elementary School, British Columbia
Gwa’sala-‘Nakwaxda’xw School, British Columbia
Lord Roberts Elementary, British Columbia
Pearson Road Elementary, British Columbia
Lord Nelson School, Manitoba
Victor Mager School, Manitoba
École Soleil Levant, New Brunswick
Port Elgin Regional School, New Brunswick 
Larkhall Academy, Newfoundland and Labrador
Charles Tetcho School, Northwest Territories
Chief Julius School, Northwest Territories
Fairview Heights Elementary, Nova Scotia
Leo Ussak Elementary School, Nunavut
Blaydon Public School, Ontario
Grenoble Public School, Ontario
Gulfstream Public School, Ontario
Killaloe Public School, Ontario
King George School, Ontario
Prince Edward Public School, Ontario 
Westwood Primary School, Prince Edward Island
École Victor-Côté, Québec
École primaire Sainte-Bibiane, Québec
Flemming Elementary School, Québec
St. Gabriel, Québec
Tsi Snaihne School, Québec
Seven Stones Community School, Saskatchewan
St. Michael School, Saskatchewan

Now in its 15^th year, the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation has committed more than $31 million to over 3,000 high-needs elementary schools across the country through all of its programs, impacting over one million Canadian children. Schools interested in applying for the 2020 Literacy Fund grant can learn more at www.loveofreading.org.

Indigo Love of Reading Foundation & First Book Canada Grant Day Partnership 
In addition to the 2019 Literacy Fund grants, the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation has once again partnered with First Book Canada, which provides new books to children in need, addressing one of the most important factors affecting literacy – access to books. As part of this partnership, the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation and First Book Canada will provide more than 1,500 new books to each of the 30 runner-up schools that applied for the Literacy Fund grant, a donation of more than 45,000 books in total. This year, books will be generously donated from Bayard, Les Editions Heritage, Disney Worldwide Publishing, Marvel Press, Disney Press, Lucasfilm Press, and Hyperion Press.

About the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation
Indigo Books & Music Inc. founded the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation in 2004 to address the underfunding of public elementary school libraries. To date, the Foundation has committed over $31 million to more than 3,000 high-needs schools, impacting over one million children. The Foundation runs two signature programs each year.  In May 2019, the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation Literacy Fund grants committed $1.5 million to 30 high-needs elementary schools that lack the resources to build and maintain healthy school libraries. Additionally, each fall, the Foundation’s annual grassroots Adopt a School program unites the Foundation with Indigo, its employees, its customers and their communities to raise funds to support high-needs elementary schools across Canada and put even more books into the hands of children. In October 2018, the Indigo Adopt a School program contributed over $1.1 million to more than 600 schools across Canada, impacting more than 200,000 children. To learn more about the Foundation, visit www.loveofreading.org

¹ Source: Love of Reading Literacy Fund grant applications.

For further information: For media requests please contact: Kathleen McGoldrick, MSL Canada, kathleen.mcgoldrick@mslgroup.com; Melissa Perri, Indigo Books & Music Inc., mperri@indigo.ca