"On behalf of the Canucks for Kids Fund and the Canucks Family Education Centre, I want to encourage Canucks fans to donate to this year's Raise-A-Reader campaign," said Alex Oxenham,Executive Director of the Canucks for Kids Fund. "This fundraising initiative empowers children and families with tools to improve their reading skills and provides a foundation for lifelong learning and growth. It has also been instrumental in the creation and ongoing operation of the Canucks Family Education Centre, which has been providing free literacy classes to thousands of Vancouver and Burnaby families for the last fourteen years."
As one of the partner beneficiaries of Raise-a-Reader, the Canucks for Kids Fund will once again donate the Raise-a-Reader grant directly to the Canucks Family Education Centre (CFEC) to support the cost of offering quality pre-school and adult classes, hot meals, child-minding and transit passes free of charge to 250 learners each week. With locations on both Vancouver's east-side and in Burnaby's Edmonds neighbourhood, CFEC utilizes a multi-generational approach that engages all family members in learning. Higher literacy rates have been proven to create more productive and healthier citizens which in turn, builds stronger communities.
"The funding CFEC receives as a direct result of the success of Raiser-A-Reader is essential to keep our doors open and our families learning," says Jean Rasmussen, Executive Director of the Canucks Family Education Centre. "At CFEC we pride ourselves in changing lives through the positive experience of learning in a safe, welcoming environment."
The Vancouver Sun Raise-a-Reader campaign has proven hugely successful on both an awareness level and fundraising level over the past 20 years. 100% of the donations raised through Raise-a-Reader are committed to local literacy and educational organizations and all funds stay in the community where they are collected.
