BASIC EDUCATION AND LITERACY

More than 775 million people over the age of 15 are illiterate. Our goal is to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender disparity in education, and increase adult literacy.

There are an estimated 60,000 children in the Charlotte area living in what would be considered a book desert. We are fortunate to have Promising Pages as a member organization of our club. The mission of Promising Pages is to collect new and donated books and share them with children lacking access to literature.

In 2020-2021, our club partnered with Promising Pages to distribute 63,000 books to more than 18,000 children in need through a program called Feed the Body, Feed the Mind. Promising Pages provided books to local food pantries including Charlotte Family Housing, Atrium Health's Free Meals for Kids Program, Loaves and Fishes, Crisis Assistance Ministries, and the Salvation Army Center for Hope by creating book pantries where visitors could shop for books for all ages along with their food.

In addition, members of our club have provided one-on-one tutoring to second and third graders in several Title I schools through the HELPS Literacy Program.