March is Literacy Month

Rotary is truly about sharing. It is about gifts. It is about taking responsibility together. It is about encouraging others to use what we have. It is about providing skills that give people a chance to be better. It is about learning that we all have the same hopes, dreams, needs, and goals.

The emphasis placed on water projects, hunger, health, literacy, and fellowship really is the basis for our success as Rotarians. As Rotarians we are able to help meet these challenges. We can all look forward to understanding each other better and living in a more  peaceful world.

March is the month that we showcase literacy . Our efforts are two fold. All across the world Rotarians note the importance of reading and we publicize the needs in the form of poor literacy rates and lack of resources.  Around the world we support numerous programs that help children and adults to gain the ability to read.

Worldwide illiteracy rates approach 20%. In many countries the rates is in the 80% range. Approximately one billion people are not able to read. Reading, writing and character literacy are essential to independence and economic freedom. Far too many adults in North America and the developing countries  live in poverty today because they haven’t mastered those skills. Far too many children are currently at risk of falling into the same trap. Illiteracy is one of the world’s (and America’s) most serious problems.

The inability to read translates into many difficulties. Safely driving a car, voting in an election, using a newspaper, applying for a job or having mom read a bedtime story are just a few of the challenges to be overcome.

I am very proud of our club’s many efforts in literacy. We have Rotarians who are involved in many literacy projects including The Black Stallion Project, The Dictionary Project, The Thesaurus Project, The Imagination Library, and we collected over 3000 books for children during the Official Visits.

Literacy is a basic skill that helps us to fight poverty, increase productivity, and gain skills to help each other. As Rotarians we are working to fight illiteracy one person at a time. We are doing this in so many effective ways

In this month’s Rotarian see the wonderful article about the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Program. For more information on literacy see the resources listed above.

Thank you all for everything you are doing for literacy!

DG Bob Warner, Jr.