Books from Hands Across the Sea arrive in SVG schools

The books are here! Hands Across the Sea is proud to announce that 4,584 brand new reading books, serving 3,285 children in 15 primary schools, secondary schools, and youth programmes, have arrived in St Vincent and the Grenadines. The 2015-2016 Hands Wish Lists shipment, which fulfills the “wish list” of books requested by educators, is the best— the highest quality, the most targeted — in Hands{{more}} Across the Sea’s eight years of operation.

To raise child literacy levels in a sustainable fashion, our CLASS (Caribbean Literacy and School Support) programme utilizes three steps: 1. Send New, Amazing Books; 2. Create/Rejuvenate Lending Libraries; and 3. Sustain the Literacy Gains. In St Vincent and the Grenadines, the Hands Literacy Link, Elaine Ollivierre, works with each school to guide and support efforts at raising child literacy levels.

Hands across the Sea wishes to thank our St Vincent and the Grenadines partner in child literacy, the Ministry of Education, for their support of this endeavour. And a special thank you goes to Courts, who generously donated their trucks and Courts team members to deliver the 87 boxes of books and literacy materials to the schools.

Hands Across the Sea also sincerely thanks the generous St Vincent and the Grenadines funders, who showed that they believe in the power of reading and literacy, and in giving every child in St Vincent and the Grenadines access to top-quality, exciting, relevant books. St Vincent and the Grenadines supporters and their adopted schools include: Scotiabank Bright Future (Troumaca Government School); Palm Island Resort and Spa (Mary Hutchinson Primary School, Stephanie Browne Primary School); FastCash (Barrouallie Anglican Primary School), Moonhole Friends (Paget Farm Primary School), and Blue Lagoon Hotel and Marina (Owia Government School).

Hands also salutes the world-class publishers included in our 2015-2016 Hands Wish Lists shipment to St Vincent and the Grenadines: Abrams-Amulet, Annick Press, Bamboo Talk Press, Campanita Books, Capstone Publishers, Caribbean Reads, DK Publishing, Hachette Book Group, HeyDay, High Interest Publishing, Highlights, Lee & Low Books, Macmillan Education, Papilotte Press, Pearson Education, Penguin Books, Random House, Rosen Publishing, Rosetta Press, Scholastic, Tiny Island Press, Townsend Press, and World Books.