Quick facts
• Raise-a-Reader (RAR) has raised $15 million for family literacy programs across Canada since its national launch in 2002.
• The program was initiated in 1997 by The Vancouver Sun and originally ran as an isolated fundraiser in B.C. Today, the campaign is truly national — with representation by 27 newspapers in 10 provinces and the celebration of RAR Day in cities from Ucluelet, B.C., to St. John’s, N.L.
• Many of the newspaper partners also support the Canspell National Spelling Bee program, a national initiative designed to celebrate and reward literacy skills by encouraging academic excellence and positive study habits through school-level, regional and national spelling bees across the country.
• Postmedia Raise-A-Reader and Canspell are complementary literacy programs: RAR engages and fosters reading for children in their formative pre-school and early-school years, while Canspell takes the power of words and literacy a step further by rewarding academic achievement for youth in Grades 4-8. Both programs focus on families and children and encourage reading skills.
• Funds raised to support literacy initiatives come from several sources including national and local sponsorships, ongoing fundraising such as retail coin-box placement, book drives, and other local events and campaigns, and of course the one-day exchange of special-edition newspapers for donations on Postmedia Raise-a-Reader Day.
