Home | About Us | News | Loving Thru Literacy in the news

Check out the Loving Thru Literacy story that ran in The Arizona Republic

http://www.azcentral.com/community/gilbert/articles/2010/01/28/20100128gr-bookdrive0129.html

Gilbert Christian Schools has partnered with Loving Thru Literacy, an organization committed to ensuring a child's right to read. GCS Kindergarten thru Sixth graders are currently donating new and gently used children's books to be sent to Yekepa, Liberia. This is part of a children's library project for Liberia, a country ravaged by 14 years of civil war. It will be the first children's library in the entire country. Collections are being taken in the cafeteria. Our kids have collected 747 books to date. They are also participating in a letter writing project under the direction of Ann Flagg, designed to engage "kids with kids" from Liberia. The letters and books were presented to our special Grandma's Cookies guest, Mr. Irving Mawolo, from Yekepa on Wednesday, Jan. 24. The sixth grade classes will be further serving this project by helping to inspect and pack the books to be loaded on a sea container which will be leaving the first part of February. GCS sixth grade teacher Mr. Kinslow has offered to travel with the Loving Thru Literacy team to Yekepa, Liberia this summer. He is part of a team dedicated to transforming children's lives one book at a time. The teachers in Liberia are, in some cases, only lessons ahead of their students. This is a result of the 14 year civil war that halted education in that country. Mr. Kinslow and prayerfully one other teacher from GCS will spend two weeks this summer training teachers at the village level to teach their students phonics. Reading is critical. It forms new thinking and will one day provide a way out of poverty. It conditions minds that have been scarred by war. Reading will open up their world and enable them to see the bigger picture of why they are here on earth. Our Gilbert Christian family is so precious. You have embraced this vision and we are so grateful. Many of you have asked how you can help to further this project. Thanks to the gifted efforts of Ann Flagg and team, new phonics manuals are being written and will be loaded onto rechargable MP3 players which are yet to be purchased. We will also be needing to purchase tools and notebooks. These items must be on the container in the next two weeks in order to be ready for the team's arrival in June. If you are so led, please consider helping with teacher travel expenses. Mr. Kinslow and Mr. Desmarchais have agreed to monitor Liberian teachers via Skype after their return to Arizona. Computers must also be purchased. Robyn Bishop has set up an account for such items. If you feel led to support our efforts in any way, please contact Robyn at 480-279-1366.