Knowledge is power

West Broadway

Wolseley

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/03/2024 (682 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Given that their job requires interpretation of weighty texts, it’s not surprising that local lawyers are supportive of literacy initiatives.

The 14th annual Lawyers for Literacy Read-a-Thon event will be Saturday, March 16, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Mulvey School (750 Wolseley Ave.).

The event, a partnership between West Broadway Youth Outreach and the Law Society of Manitoba, welcomes 75 to 100 lawyers to the school every year, where they then spend a day with kids — listening to the youngsters read to them and “eating too much pizza” (a perk for participants).

The participating lawyers are sponsored by colleagues, who pay about $2 per book read, explained WBYO executive director Ken Opaleke, encouraging literacy and raising funds for other essential supplies for the non-profit organization.

“It’s just fun,” Opaleke said. “I mean, even if it’s something you don’t particularly enjoy, and you’re giving up your Saturday morning cartoons for it … to see a kid sitting next to someone, and to watch their facial expressions, you realize that they’re (being told) ‘great job on that page. You can do this.’ Having someone non-stop telling you how awesome they think you are — that is the equivalent of a positive drug that we hope you’re going to get addicted to.”

That’s one of the reasons Lawyers for Literacy is so important, Opalike said. It encourages self-confidence and makes reading a fun, interactive thing to do.

“It’s always been (important), but it is definitely more important now. Because, in many ways, just like handwriting, it’s becoming a lost art,” Opaleke said. “You ask a child what was the last book they read, and they will sit there for 10 minutes. They can’t remember.

“(But) on this day, depending on how many different schools around the city show up, we could be looking at anywhere from 500 to over 1,200 books read in one day.”

WBYO is a drop-in recreation and life skills program, located at a 646 Portage Ave., available for kids aged four and up from all over the city. It offers free, year-round after-school and summer programming and the read-a-thon is just one of its many reading-focused programs

The outreach organization aims to always meet the needs of kids who attend — everyone gets food, water, and a safe space to play — but also encourages kids to express their wants. If a kid works hard, Opaleke wants to ensure that those wants are met.

“We’re a life skills program pretending to be a youth drop-in … our biggest lie we tell everyone is that we are a drop-in. We’re a drop-in, but then kids realize that, ‘Wait a minute. I’m one of the first three kids to read 100 books in a year,’ and then we give them their own laptop to keep. And it’s five per cent about them, and 95 per cent about every other kid watching.”

Opaleke immigrated to Canada from Jamaica when he was a youngster. Growing up in a low-income family of new immigrants, he was very limited in what he could do.

Now, he lives vicariously through the kids he helps today.

“The confidence piece is unbelievable, when you see it,” he said. “Like, if you see a child that’s kind of weak and withdrawn, they might not try as many things. But if they develop their literacy skills and they build their confidence, the sky’s the limit from that point on. And that’s, to a degree, how I sold it to the lawyers 14 years ago when we started this.”

WBYO posts a list of its Top 10 most-needed items on its website – www.westbroadwayyouthoutreach.com —which includes van repairs, office supplies, snacks, and laptops.

The site is volunteer-operated and Opaleke says he’s always on the look-out for new volunteers.