Volunteers hand out free books
There are some troubling statistics surrounding illiteracy in Canada. 42% of Canadian adults between the ages of 16 and 65 have low literacy skills. Even more troubling, one child in four begins kindergarten in Canada without the skills to learn how to read. Students in grade 3 who report that they “like to read” dropped from 76% in 1998/1999 to 50% in 2010/2011.
It was statistics like these which inspired the creation of the Ottawa-based not-for-profit organization Twice Upon a Time.
Twice Upon a Time is the brainchild of librarian Alexandra Yarrow. Yarrow began working as a librarian at the Rideau Branch of the Ottawa Public Library in 2006. While working at the library, Yarrow experienced a magical moment when she read a book to a child who had never been read aloud to before. More and more, she noticed that parents visiting the library could not afford to purchase used paperback books for their children from the library's 50 cent sale shelves. Yarrow knew that even though Ottawa has an excellent public library system, kids also need books of their own at home to read and re-read so that the patterns of language and story become second nature.
During a visit to Toronto, Yarrow toured The Children’s Book Bank, a registered charity that provides free books and literacy support to children in low-income Toronto neighbourhoods. The Children’s Book Bank was founded by a group of Toronto volunteers in late 2007. The Book Bank now averages about 150-200 books given away each day.
This visit planted the seed for Twice Upon a Time. Yarrow put out feelers to see who might share her passion to make books more accessible to children in Ottawa. An enthusiastic group of volunteers responded and have been working since 2012 to create a non profit organization that collects new and gently used children’s books and gives them away. Twice Upon a Time recently began operating twice a week in Heartwood House, an organization based in Vanier/Overbrook that has been providing affordable accommodation to non-profit organizations in Ottawa for over 11 years. Children can visit as often as they like, and can take home to keep a book of their choice each time they visit.
The Ottawa Neighbourhood Study indicates that a high percentage of children living near Heartwood House are at risk for school failure due to Early Development Indicators, including socio-economic and health factors. Other studies have proven that the number of books in the home is correlated with school success. By facilitating book ownership, Twice Upon a Time helps strengthen literacy skills and school readiness.
Yarrow believes that a large part of the early success of Twice Upon a Time was due to making connections with similar organizations like The Children’s Book Bank that were willing to share their experience and advice. Yarrow credits “big-hearted Ottawans” - like the Awesome Ottawa Foundation - who have helped to get the project off the ground. Engaging and creating meaningful ways of including people who share her passion for children’s literacy “helped shepherd an idea towards reality.”
We came to Ottawa in 2006 when Alexandra became the librarian at Rideau Branch of the Ottawa Public Library. We chose to live just north of the Market area downtown. Living and working in the Lowertown neighbourhood meant that we were around a lot of different kinds of communities all the time: we gave directions to many lost tourists, ran into diplomats and local politicians, saw many students, admired the homes of Sandy Hill, and nodded at the nuns living on our street frequently. We also quickly came to know by face, if not always by name, many of the marginalised populations living in or near our neighbourhood: lower-income families in high-rise housing, clients of the Ottawa Mission or other supportive initiatives, drug users (recovering and not) and the homeless. Kris began volunteering at the Mission.Our hearts went out to our community, and we tried to find as many ways to help, small or large, as we could.
At work, Alexandra worked with her team at the library to ensure access to library resources for as many people as possible. Working to reduce barriers for customers is crucial, but even these efforts aren’t always successful. Some people will never get a library card, whether it is because they are afraid of potential future fines, afraid of losing material, or afraid for another reason in their past that is a perceived barrier, if not a real one (bad credit, negative experience with municipalities or governments in Canada or elsewhere, lack of proper identification or a permanent address). We noticed that sometimes parents weren’t even able to purchase a paperback for their children from even the inexpensive “for sale” shelves. Working at Rideau Branch was also the first time that Alexandra read a story to a child who had never been read aloud to before: an absolutely magical, but also heartbreaking, experience (he was enthralled).
As our lives in Ottawa expanded and changed, (more…)