More books for kids with disabilities

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/02/2010 (5684 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dollars are finally flowing into Winnipeg’s troubled sponsorship program, as a company that advocates on behalf of the disabled plans to help the Millennium Library purchase specialized books.

The first official donor in the Sponsor Winnipeg program is Brematson & Associates, a company that helps people with disabilities gain access to funding.

Brematson is donating $25,000 to Winnipeg’s largest library so it can build a collection of “adapted books,” which combine images with text to help kids with disabilities learn to speak more functionally.

Brematson president Susana Scott, whose daughter Victory has spina bifada, said she was proud to donate the first $25,000 toward a program that the city hopes will generate $1.5 million a year in sponsorship money.

In 2009, the program failed to raise a cent for the city, placing the program in a $1.6 million deficit position at the end of the year, once the cost of a consulting contract was taken into account.

This year, the program is on track, said Mayor Sam Katz, adding he is “100 per cent” positive the fundraising goals will be met.

More Sponsor Winnipeg announcements are coming, promised St. Charles Coun. Grant Nordman, the council representative responsible for the fundraising program. Some will be along the lines of Brematson’s contribution and others might be larger, he said.

“Although this is a small way to start, this is an appropriate way to start,” he said, noting Scott’s close personal connection to the cause her company is supporting.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca