In Rotary, the theme for the month of September is Basic Education and Literacy, one of the six areas of focus.
 
Did you know that 1.7 million additional teachers are needed worldwide to meet the goal of universal primary education?
 
How can we take action?
 
-Participate in a world community project to provide teacher training and needed classroom supplies. A few of our members already help load containers heading to South Africa with unwanted school room supplies from schools that have been closed in our area. We welcome more of our members to help with this worthy "Global Literacy Project" which is an ongoing project of the Rotary Club of Grand Bend. On Aug 5th I had the privilege of helping them load containers #62 & 63. Not only do you have a great feeling of satisfaction knowing that these items will not be littering the dump but that children who have nothing will now have desks, chairs, blackboards, etc. You also have the opportunity to meet many wonderful Rotarians from our area. 
 
Did you know that 57 million children worldwide are not in school and that 781 million people over the age of 15 are illiterate?
 
How can we take action?
 
- Volunteer in a classroom or after-school program
- Serve as a mentor to students in your community
- Organize a Canada150 literacy program that would include all school age children in our community (stay tuned for more information coming in the near future)