The Story of Beginning…
Roxanne Dyck (staff; founder) discovered that children’s books are beautiful, fabulous, and poignant…all while trying to keep her extremely active first child from tearing her house apart. She discovered that her daughter could channel her energy, intensity and imagination into an engaging story, all the while having a shared experience with mom and being exposed to great art and print, over and over – some roots to becoming literate. Skill-building, imagination-blossoming, relationship-building…who knew that reading together could be so great?! Reading together became treasured times to look forward to, because of all the great stories they were looking forward to discovering and experiencing, and because of the trusting, open bond forged between mother and child through those times.
When her second child came along, he automatically wanted to be part of the read-aloud times and started learning to read by age 3, simply due to opportunity and exposure. He wanted to be part of their literate community, connecting and being in on what they were discovering, and trying his hand at figuring out reading skills. The more Roxanne thought about it, the more convinced she became that if her kids could read, her kids would be empowered to learn, discover, and communicate for their whole lives.
Since then she and her husband, Dwayne, have discovered that many kids in Brandon need support to keep developing in both their motivation and skills in literacy. They held consultation meetings with local teachers, principals, CFS workers, preschool teachers, librarians and book store owners who expressed concern for some kids who needed more time, opportunity, exposure, resources and/or support to keep developing. Since 2009, they along with countless others have worked to provide some of what they ensured for their own kids – a safe, caring place where literacy is valued, encouraged and engaged in together, with individualized support all along the way. Since their launch, they have worked with over 500 students and had more than 100 volunteers and countless cookie-bakers helping them do it.