I’ve been writing about our upcoming major fundraiser, A Night to Pay it Forward, which will take place February 13, 2016. The funds that we raise that evening will be used to support a wide variety of the charitable causes that our Club members care about very deeply. The largest one is this year’s chosen Good Works project, the Salem Area Bike Trail.
But this fundraiser also supports the other charitable work accomplished by our Club. For example, our Literacy committee has been involved in an inspiring international project called the Ixil Literacy Project.
In the northern highlands of Guatemala live a group of about 48,000 native Mayans whose primary language is a dialect called Ixil. The children attend a little school in Santa Avelina, where they had no books written in Ixil to help them learn to read. So a group of parents, teachers and other native speakers got together to record and illustrate some children’s stories in Ixil.
Helped in part by Rotary International, these writings have been turned into simply bound
books used by the children to practice reading.  Our Club’s Literacy committee pitched in by gluing covers for the books (made of recycled mat board), collating the inner pages, and producing about 20 titles of the books. These were then shipped back to the little school in Santa Avelina for the children’s classroom. Two of the books with Ixil titles are shown here: “Nicholas’ Birthday”and “The Life of Chicken.”
Educating children to read is a powerful way of helping them improve their economic situation and access the opportunities available in their broader communities. Thanks to the connections we have with Rotary International, the Literacy Committee of Rotary Club of Salem, Oregon, has had an impact worldwide.
Please be sure to attend and support our Club’s major fundraiser, A Night to Pay it Forward, on February 13. It’s time to buy your tickets on our website. The early bird ticket price of $50 per person will be in effect until January 15, 2016. Hurry!
This week, we’ll be enjoying each other’s company during a day of fellowship. Let’s get to know each other better and kick off the holiday’s right. See you tomorrow at the Salem Convention Center!
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