Ride the Road to Reading

The Sunrise Rotary club supports literacy in the community and a unique way they do this is through the sponsorship of the Ride the Road to Reading program at the Medicine Hat Public Library.
The program has li brary ambassadors visiting each of the grade four classes in the city schools during the spring to talk about the many resources available at the public library. At the presentations the students are each given a passport to bring back to the library. When they come with their parents, they receive a tour of the children's library and then can enter for a variety of prizes, which are paid for from the funds given by Rotary.
At the end of the term the prizes are drawn for from the entries received at the library and a celebration is held with a number of student winners, a parent winner, and one of the teachers. Prizes are presented by members of the Sunrise club.
Carol Ann Cross-Roen, Head of Youth Services, says that the program is effective in reaching students at the grade four level, which is where studies have shown that use of the public library sometimes drops off. That may be due to the young people getting more active in sports and arts, or it may be due to a build-up of library fines that causes financial issues for families. Part of the SRRRR program includes clearing the fines so that the barrier is removed.
Ride the Road to Reading has been a pro-literacy program of the library for almost two decades and the Sunrise club is proud to have supported it for nearly that whole period. Even during the covid pandemic, when the ambassadors couldn't visit the schools in person, a virtual component was done and the prizes, including new bikes, continued to be awarded.
For more information on the SRRRR program contact Carol Ann Cross-Roen at the public library (CarolAnnC@shortgrass.ca) or Keith Walker with Sunrise Rotary (kvwalker@telusplanet.net).
The photo shows two Rotary members, Karen Charlton and Keith Walker, presenting a prize to a happy grade four student.