Hi everyone,

 

Do you remember when you first learned to read, and the stories and characters that came alive? Last year, 72,000 children left primary school without basic reading standards. This is why on April 17th, I will be running my first Virgin London Marathon in support of Volunteer Reading Help.

 

I'd be very grateful if you would help me achieve my fundraising goal of £2000 for VRH. Here's the story...

 

Volunteer Reading Help aims to build a nation of confident children who are literate for life. This is made possible through the support of trained volunteer reading helpers. Volunteers are recruited from the local community (people like your nan, your old head teacher, or your mum!) and trained to work with three children, twice a week, for an entire school year. There are currently 5,000 children paired with 2,000 volunteers in England.

 

Last September, there were 72,000 children in secondary school who lacked the required literacy skills for their age, and currently 1 in 5 adults in the UK are functionally illiterate- imagine not being able to call a plumber in the Yellow Pages or read your gas bill properly. There are direct links between unemployment, social exclusion and exploitation and poverty, so the grassroots work VRH does with young children is critical to improving their chances in life and contribution to society.

 

From VRH's work in 2010,

- 96% of children showed improved reading performance and confidence in reading

- 96% of children showed an improvement in overalll achievement

- 93% of children showed an improvement in general confidence and self-esteem

 

The £2000 I aim to raise will help 5-6 children benefit from a VRH volunteer for a whole school year.

 

Or in other words,

- £1,003 funds the training and work of one volunteer to help three children

- £365 funds reading help for 1 child for an entire school year

- £17 funds the books, games and resources used by one volunteer

- £5 funds 1 reading session for 1 child 

 

I would love your support to reach this goal. Target race time is 5hrs 30mins- 26.2 miles is a long way but it will be worth it!

 

Thank you,

Jennie

 

P.s. My favorite book as child was "Goodnight Moon"- what was yours??