Schools to create libraries with US Embassy grants

Corinth Government School and Grenville Secondary School have been awarded the 2012/2013 Hands Across the Sea Literacy Awards for Grenada, and MacDonald College has won a US Embassy Public Affairs grant that enabled the school to create its own library.

The principals, teachers, and children at the schools have enthusiastically embraced Hands Across the Sea’s CLASS (Caribbean Literacy and School Support) programme, which has shipped 1 800 new books and 12 boxes of teaching resources to Corinth Government School and nearly 1 400 new books to Grenville Secondary School over the past three years. The Hands Literacy Award comes with US$1 000 in brand new books or other literacy assistance for each school.

Corinth Government School students thank Hands Across
the Sea for the new books which they have received.

Hands Across the Sea’s Co-Founder and Executive Director, Harriet Linskey, said: “There is no doubt that improved literacy skills open the door to a better life, and both Corinth Government School and Grenville Secondary are demonstrating a passionate commitment to child literacy.”

Also in the 2012/2013 school year, MacDonald College was the recipient of a shared grant from the US Embassy in Barbados and Hands Across the Sea. The grant allowed MacDonald College to receive over 400 brand new books for their school library. Principal, Mrs. Lorraine De Allie, said: “We are pleased to have this wonderful selection of resources to help improve students’ motivation to read and to pass their CXC exams.”

In the 2012/2013 school year, MacDonald College was the
recipient of a shared grant from the US Embassy in Barbados
and Hands Across the Sea, which allowed them to get over
400 brand new books for their school library.

Since starting the organisation in 2007, Hands Across the Sea’s Co-Founders, Harriet and Tom Linskey, have been dedicated to raising the literacy levels of Eastern Caribbean children, from pre-school to secondary school, through their Caribbean Literacy and School Support (CLASS) programme, which has shipped over 141 000 books to the region.

Hands Across the Sea has sent over 26 900 new and near-new books and 30 boxes of teaching resources to 34 schools, community libraries, and reading programmes on Grenada, reaching over 8 000 children. The CLASS programme, in concert with each school year’s Hands Wish Lists (school principals, teachers, and US Peace Corps Volunteers tell Hands which books they need), works in three ways: 1. Send Great New Books; 2. Create Borrowing Libraries (usually a school library); and 3. Foster Sustainability of the library through support at the school and from the local community. On Grenada, Hands Across the Sea partners the US Peace Corps, the US Embassy in Barbados, and The Sandals Foundation, and works closely with the Grenada Ministry of Education. Hands Across the Sea also serves schools on the islands of Anguilla, Antigua, St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. (LS)