Walter Hadden Literacy Award was presented to Literary Arts Windsor. Windsor Express will continue their support towards Half-Way to Children's Fest and Don Larkin was recognized for his generous contribution to the Larkin RYLA awards.
As September is Education and Literacy month for Rotary, the Club honoured the tradition of presenting the Walter Hadden Literacy Awards. Ryan Mancini of the Literacy Committee gave an overview about what projects the committee has been working on, including Raise-a-Reader Book Drive and Sponsorship, “Yours for the Dreaming” International Literacy/Peace Classroom Initiative, Partnership with Junior Achievement and Literacy Program with Schools in Jamaica. He then went on to present the Walter Hadden Literacy Award to Literary Arts Windsor, a non-profit organization whose mission is "to introduce Canadian books and authors to residents and students of Windsor and south-western Ontario in such a way as to inspire them to recognize, read, and celebrate Canadian authors". The organization is completely volunteer run. Bookfest Windsor is run by a sub-committee of Literary Arts Windsor, and the event will run from October 17 to October 23rd at the School of Creative Arts (SoCA).
Dartis Willis Sr., president and CEO of the Windsor Express spoke about the organization's continued involvement and support for Half-Way to Children's Fest. Don Marsh thanked Don Larkin for his generous contribution towards the Larkin RYLA awards, and Don explained the impact RYLA has on it's participants. He also urged the Club to get applications in early, if anyone knows a high-school student that would want to attend, as the program fills up quickly. This year, RYLA will take place from November 15-17. Applications can be found here: http://rotary6400.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/RYLA-2018-Application.pdf