Books from Hands Across the Sea arrive in St. Lucia Schools

The books are here! Hands Across the Sea is proud to announce that 5,080 brand-new reading books, serving 3,112 children in 12 primary and secondary schools, have arrived in Saint Lucia. Since the organisation began assisting here in 2010, it has sent 45,380 books to 62 schools, community libraries, and youth programmes, reaching 16,020 children.??The 2015-2016 Hands Wish Lists shipment, which fulfills the “wish list” of books requested by educators, is the best – highest quality, most targeted – in Hands Across the Sea’s eight years of operation. To raise child literacy levels in a sustainable fashion, the 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 Saint Lucia, Jacqueline Vidal-Atherly, the Hands Literacy link, works with each school to guide and support efforts at raising child literacy levels.

Hands Across the Sea wishes to thank its Saint Lucia partner in child literacy, the Ministry of Education, for its support of this endeavour.

It also sincerely thanks the generous funders who showed that they believe in the power of reading and literacy, and in giving every child in Saint Lucia access to top-quality, exciting, relevant books.

Supporters and their adopted schools include: Scotiabank Bright Future (La Croix Maingot Combined School); LIME (Choiseul Secondary School); FastCash (Soufriere Primary School); Jade Mountain and Anse Chastanet (Delcer RC Combined School) and Sugar Beach Resort (Bouton RC Combined School).

Hands Across the Sea also salutes the world-class publishers included in its 2015-2016 Hands Wish Lists shipment to Saint Lucia: 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 Book.