On Monday, February 28, 2011 Laubach Literacy Ontario hosted our second annual Literacy Awareness Day at Queen’s Park in Toronto. It was amazing to see it all come together after months of planning. From the moment we arrived until the moment we left Queen’s Park we were busy.
The day began with us thanking the Government of Ontario for the additional funding for literacy agencies for the past two years. Then meetings were held throughout the day with twenty MPPs, students, Literacy Practitioners and volunteers. LLO would like to thank everyone for graciously taking the time to participate in these meetings and making it a success.
Over 80 people attended the lunch reception and were fortunate to hear our guest speakers, the Honourable John Milloy, Garfield Dunlop and Rosario Marchese as well as three students – Gary Porter, Rubert Payea and Martin Alleyne.
It was the student stories that were shared both at the reception and at the meetings throughout the day that grasped everyone’s attention and their hearts. More than a few meetings ended with attendees in tears just listening to the stories about the difficulties and challenges encountered when reading and writing skills are lacking as well as the sense of embarrassment that goes along with it. Listening to the pride in their voices as these brave individuals shared how they overcame these challenges, sought help and improved their skills made it more than obvious why all of those in the literacy field are so compassionate about their work.
The day began with us thanking the Government of Ontario for the additional funding for literacy agencies for the past two years. Then meetings were held throughout the day with twenty MPPs, students, Literacy Practitioners and volunteers. LLO would like to thank everyone for graciously taking the time to participate in these meetings and making it a success.
Over 80 people attended the lunch reception and were fortunate to hear our guest speakers, the Honourable John Milloy, Garfield Dunlop and Rosario Marchese as well as three students – Gary Porter, Rubert Payea and Martin Alleyne.
It was the student stories that were shared both at the reception and at the meetings throughout the day that grasped everyone’s attention and their hearts. More than a few meetings ended with attendees in tears just listening to the stories about the difficulties and challenges encountered when reading and writing skills are lacking as well as the sense of embarrassment that goes along with it. Listening to the pride in their voices as these brave individuals shared how they overcame these challenges, sought help and improved their skills made it more than obvious why all of those in the literacy field are so compassionate about their work.