Rotary Club Supports Student Literacy
by Randy Pierce
COLLINSVILLE — Students at two schools in Collinsville are being encouraged concerning the benefits of reading and literacy as a result of support from the Collinsville-Maryville-Caseyville Rotary Club in the form of a donation totaling $3000.
Presented by representatives of the club, including Collinsville Chief of Police Steve Evans, on Wednesday, November 15, the contribution to the literacy efforts at both Dorris Intermediate School and Collinsville Middle School will be used to provide incentives and prizes to students who reach established goals set by the program directors at each location, Leah Davis and Michael Hayman, respectively.
This marks the second successive year the CMC Rotary Club has contributed in this manner, now doubling the $1500 sponsorship provided in 2022.
The source of the funds results from the club’s various projects that occur throughout the year including its selling of oranges and grapefruits during the holiday season, a project which is again coming up soon.
Other sources of income used by the CMC Rotary Club in its “service above self” approach to the community include selling sandwiches at the annual Italian Fest, holding raffles and hosting a trivia night among other activities.
This project is aimed at students at all levels of literacy by rewarding those who read avidly and providing support for those who desire to do so but experience challenges concerning comprehension. Eventually, there is a plan to expand this program to other schools in Collinsville Unit District 10.
The donations provided this year and last replaced the CMC Rotary Club’s long-standing tradition of providing dictionaries to every fourth grader in the local school district because, with the proliferation of online sources that can be used now, a new method of supporting reading and literacy was found.
The CMC club’s beneficial impact goes beyond the local area also through the involvement in and contributions for the Rotary International polio eradication effort, a farm project in the nation of Zambia and support of schools in Africa among many other outreach projects.
The CMC Rotary Club meets every Tuesday at noon at the Old Herald Brewery & Distillery, 115 East Clay Street in Collinsville, except for the third Tuesday of the month when the meetings are held at 6 p.m. at the same location, with guests always welcome.
