Help me fund long-term systemic change through education.
It's been a few years, but we're back - join Quill and Essentia on Twitch, Saturday March 15 2025, from 12 noon Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), for a day of gaming, chatting, and hopefully lots of fun raising lots of funds! ;)
This year we've chosen Room to Read - an organization Essentia has personally donated to in the past, and one that is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The birthday fundraiser is back after 5 years, it's their 25th, it's 2025... is what that you call kismet?
Room to Read envisions a world in which all children can pursue a quality education that enables them to reach their full potential and contribute to their communities and the world.
By focusing on literacy and gender equality in education, Room to Read transforms the lives of millions of children in low-income communities. Working in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations, and governments, they help primary school children develop literacy skills and a habit of reading, establish school libraries, train librarians & teachers to more effectively help their students, publish relevant reading materials in local languages, and support girls to complete secondary school with the relevant life skills to succeed in school and beyond.
More than 773 million people cannot read; two-thirds of these are women and girls. On average, only 66 girls to every 100 boys complete secondary school in low-income countries, which seriously impacts not only that girl's own health outcomes, lifelong income, and her family, but also her community and even country -- failing to educate girls to the same level as boys can cost a country at least $1 billion annually (World Bank estimates much higher), through lower productivity, higher fertility rates, higher healthcare costs, and long-term intergenerational impacts.
- Children born to literate mothers are 50% more likely to survive beyond age 5, with The Lancet reporting that girl's education contributed to a 51% reduction in child mortality between 1970 and 2009
- Men in communities with educated women report higher life satisfaction and life expectancy
- Educated communities: 1) show better resiliency to the impacts of climate change and have better environmental conservation participation and outcomes, 2) experience fewer violent conflicts, and 3) have greater civic participation, lower political extremism, and more stable democratic institutions
- UNESCO research has shown that if all adults completed secondary education, world poverty could be reduced by half!
- The World Bank has referred to girls' education as one of the most cost-effective development investments available
We can't help the whole world at once in one day, but as Room to Read says, world change starts with educated children.
So in honour of Women's History Month AND Essentia's Birthday, and our whole family's love of reading, writing, and learning -- let's build a library, train some teachers, get some books published, and keep some girls (and boys!) in school!
Thank you in advance for your help. ❤️
Organizer
R
Room To Read Canada
Beneficiary