Roughrider Foundation, Jays Care touch 'em all with Turn the Page book bonanza

10/09/2024 11:30 AM

The wheels were spinning at Turn the Page.

Shopping carts were overflowing with books on Thursday and Friday on the concourse at Mosaic Stadium, where the teachers from across the province were welcomed by the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation, the Jays Care Foundation and First Book Canada.

Those organizations joined forces for a large-scale event at which more than 60,000 books for students of all grades and ages were made available for the low, low cost of $0.00.

"One of my teachers said, 'This is better than Christmas!' " said Lindsay Morhart, vice-principal of Regina's Sacred Heart Community School.

"Teachers love literacy, so when you get to come in here and walk out with shopping cart upon shopping cart of free books that are quality, there's no better day than that."

The event could also be likened to boxing day, considering the multitude of cardboard containers that were found behind each table.

At times, the books were being snapped up as quickly as they could be unpacked by Roughriders staff members and volunteers.

"This is unbelievable," said Stacey Riddell, the educational assistant at Clive Draycott School in Bethune. "You can see all the teachers beaming.

"This is a great opportunity for our school and for our kids. Reading is the foundation of everything we do, so this really hits home. That's why there are a lot of smiles here."

Not to mention a lot of piles, as evidenced by the stacks of books that were wheeled out of the stadium and into vehicles that were parked as close as possible to the stadium.

Consider the case of Janis Kot and Alison Newman, both of Henry Braun School in Regina.

"I'll fill every nook and cranny in my car and in Alison's car," said Kot, who teaches Grades 6 and 7.

"This is my first time taking part in this and I'm just amazed," added Newman, a learning room teacher. "A lot of kids who don't have access to books are going to get that access through this program."

The benefits extended to Saskatoon, where an "All in for Literacy" event was held on Thursday morning. The Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation and Saskatoon Public Schools Foundation teamed up to promote reading.

The Roughrider Foundation enhances the CFL team's efforts that benefit youth in the province by accentuating health, education and amateur football.

Jays Care Foundation is the charitable arm of Canada's Major League Baseball team. Jays Care and First Book Canada are partners in Turn the Page.

"It's unreal that our province gets to be a part of this," Riddell said.

"To see heaps of books in all these shopping carts, it's almost too good to be true."

There was a harder, underlying truth to consider.

"If kids can't read at level by the time they leave the third grade, their graduation rates decrease," Morhart noted, "so we want to make sure they are exposed to all kinds of literature at an early age.

"For many of our kids, they're coming into our building not being read to and not having that exposure to literature and literacy at a young age, so we need to do a really good job of exposing them to that."

Hence the race to the tables from the moment the event began on Thursday at 4 p.m.

"Look at the smiles on all these teachers' faces and all the excitement," Morhart marvelled. "They're like, 'Look at this book! And this book!'

"We just love literacy. We love reading. We want to expose our kids to that. We want that love to be given to them, so it was a blast.

"There was so much laughing. We saw lots of teachers from other schools and they're recommending books: 'Did you get this? This is a good one! Throw a whole case of it in your cart.'

"This is just awesome. There are so many happy people."