Eleven School Libraries launched across SVG

Hands Across the Sea, an American-based non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to the advancement of child literacy in the Eastern Caribbean, has sent 18,872 new amazing library books to St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) and opened 11 new school libraries across the country during the 2018-2019 school year.

The schools are: Bequia SDA Primary School, Bequia SDA Secondary School, Biabou Methodist Primary School, Evesham Methodist School, Kingstown Preparatory School, Lowmans Leeward Anglican School, Marriaqua Government School, New Grounds Primary School, North Union Secondary School, Richland Park SDA Primary School, and Westwood Methodist School. The initiative’s major sponsors include the Mustique Charitable Foundation, the Whitehead Foundation, the Ladera Foundation, Scotiabank Community Program, Palm Island Resort & Spa, and the John and Margaret Sagan Foundation.

In addition, Hands Across the Sea (www.handsacrossthesea.net) supplied brand new, targeted reading books for school libraries at Colonaire Primary School, C.W. Prescod Primary School, Mary Hutchinson Primary School, Questelles Government School, South Rivers Methodist Primary School, and Stephanie Browne Primary School.

Hands has also provided Remedial Reading Toolkits (www.handsacrossthesea.net/RemedialReading.htm) to eight St Vincent secondary schools: Adelphi Secondary, Bequia Community High, Emmanuel High, Georgetown Secondary, Intermediate High, Mountain View Adventist Academy, and St Clair Dacon Secondary, all funded by the Mustique Charitable Foundation, and Buccament Bay Secondary School, funded by Scotiabank Community Program.

“Hands Across the Sea wishes to thank our valued partners in child literacy — the individual and corporate donors who funded new books and supported the work of our Hands Literacy Links, and the companies who rebuilt library spaces to help turn them into vibrant centers of discovery and learning,” said Harriet Linskey, Co-Founder of the organization. “We also want to commend the efforts of Enna Bullock and Yvette Pompey, our two Hands Literacy Links for St Vincent and the Grenadines. The tireless support of school staff by these program officers has resulted in more children than ever becoming engaged with books, reading, and their school library.” Together the St. Vincent Literacy Links have trained over 200 children as Student Librarians.

Primary schools in St Vincent and the Grenadines have also received Hands Across the Sea’s groundbreaking 179-page Teachers Resource Guide to the Library (Grades K-3), the just-revised Hands Library Manual for Primary Schools, and the updated Hands Student Librarian Handbook. All resources are free and downloadable from the Hands website.

Since the organization’s founding in 2007, Hands Across the Sea has assisted 92 schools and reading programs, sent 99,160 asked-for books, and given 21,500 Vincentian children access to top-quality, appropriate books and literacy support materials. The organization works in Antigua, Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. To date, Hands Across the Sea has served 352 schools with over 464,000 books, reaching 103,700 children.