County Kids Read Receives Municipal and Parrott Foundation Grants

We are very pleased to announce that County Kids Read has been awarded a Municipal Grant and a grant from the Parrott Foundation.

The Municipal Grant will be used to purchase Board Books for our program with a focus on three early intervention programs - Babies and Beyond, Prescription to Read, and Books for County Babies.

The Parrot Foundation Grant will be used to implement a literacy, learning and well-being response project to address pressing issues that have arisen due to the pandemic, including learning gaps and increased anxiety among school children ages 5 to 12. By distributing learning kits and mental health kits, we will reinforce literacy skills and development, and alleviate the levels of worry and anxiety for our most vulnerable children. 

PEC Helping PEC - COVID19 Fund

County Kids Read has received a grant from the PEC Helping PEC - Covid 19 Fund. Funding will allow County Kids Read to purchase books to distribute to County families with a focus on supporting early literacy development in children from birth to Grade three. Books will be both non-fiction, fiction and will include books focusing on anxiety and mental health. "With the impact of COVID-19 on the start of the school year, many children are experiencing higher levels of worry and distress."  CAHM (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto)

County Kids Read Provides Learning Kits and Books for Young Students at PECI

County Kids Read volunteers Anne Preston and Brenda Franks finished packaging, organizing and distributing the home-learning kits and books to teachers at PECI.  A big thank you to Brenda for  organizing all of this.  In all, 72 learning kits were put together and 135 books were handed out. Over 50% of the students received learning kits. The teachers were most appreciative. In conversation, they told us that during pandemic school closures they are are not reaching 50 - 65% of the students in their classes.