FALLING in love with reading will now be even easier for children from local primary schools.
The Westport Club, in partnership with Dymocks Children’s Charities, has presented the schools with almost 1700 books worth $30,000 to boost their school libraries.
Club General Manager Anthony Westman said the donation was part of an ongoing commitment to make a significant contribution to community life and the continuation of a literacy program which started in 2009.
“Literacy had been identified as a core need in the community and to date the club’s commitment in this area had exceeded $202,000.
“The literacy program is an important part of what we do in the community and our team is proud of the success that this program has achieved so far.
“We are now donating books to all primary schools in the Port Macquarie area and the program plays an important part in bringing the love of reading to the children in our local schools.”
The eight beneficiaries were Hastings Public School, Tacking Point Public School, Telegraph Point Public School, St Joseph’s Primary School, St Agnes Primary School, St Peter’s Primary School, Heritage Christian School and St Columba Anglican School.
The book donations were accepted by children from the benefitting schools and the presentation was followed up with a tour of the schools by staff from the Westport Club.
Other club literacy initiatives include the Write to Read Program through which 12 schools have benefitted from interactive software and the Mobile Library Literacy Van, a joint project with Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, which gives children in remote and outlying areas weekly access to library resources they would not normally receive.
