Tuesday, Jan. 27, was a day brought to you by the letter L, as indeed has been this entire week.
January 25-31, 2015, has been proclaimed Family Literacy Week in Cranbrook, and Tuesday was designated Family Literacy Day — a chance to promote literacy activities in families.
On Tuesday evening, the Columbia Basin Alliance For Literacy (CBAL), the Cranbrook Daily Townsman, School District 5 and the Cranbrook Public Library hosted a celebration of Family Literacy Day at the Manual Training Centre in Cranbrook. Katherine Hough, Cranbrook Community Literacy Co-ordinator with CBAL, served as MC.
A large crowd of parents and kids turned out to witness the launching of the Cranbrook Clicks website, the recognition of student writing projects, and the awarding of the Literacy Champion of the Year. The writing projects and the students profiles will be available in the Daily Townsman next week.
Cranbrook’s elementary schools had selected various students from various grades to participate in CBAL’s youth writing projects, and 30 students were recognized for their writing achievements in poetry and prose. Those in attendance were presented with certificates.
And local realtor Jason Wheeldon was recognized as CBAL’s literary champion of 2014, receiving the Cranbrook Commmunity Literacy Award for his fundraising efforts during CBAL and Black Press’s Reach-a-Reader Day.
The start of the evening featured the official launch of the website “Cranbrook Clicks,” a new online resource for all the social service organizations in the Cranbrook area. Rita Romeo, Chair of the Cranbrook Community Social Planning Committee explained that the goal of the project was to raise awareness of the local social sector, and ease the process of accessing the services the organizations offer.
Vine Madder, of the Cranbrook Craft Company, who designed the website, gave the audience a quick on-screen tour of the site, which is divided into several basic areas, some of which are still under construction:
• A Services Directory, which list in detail all community service organizations and the help they can provide;
• An events calendar, which non-profits will be able to access to list their events or job postings;
• Volunteering, which will explain who needs volunteers and how to volunteer;
• Shopping, where non-profits will be able offer merchandise for sale, to raise funds, and where information on how to donate to a non-profit is available.
• An online map is currently under construction, which will eventually show the location of all local non-profits.
While the site is now live, Madder said visitors can click on an online survey and comment on what areas they would like to see developed first. The address is cranbrookclicks.com.
“This is an exciting resource for local non-profits,” Madder said. “It’s been a huge project among a number of different organizations.”
Madder added that the Cranbrook Public Library is taking care of the Services Directory aspect of the site.