Reading Opens Up a World of Information, Imagination, and Education

For as long as I can remember, books and reading have been an integral part of my life.

From being read "Love You Forever" by my mom when I was a little, learning how to read Bearenstain Bear books on my own, discovering the magical world of Harry Potter, befriending Jane Austen and her ideas of romance, to studying research articles and textbooks on anatomy and physiology; I have been tearing through fiction books and soaking up every bit of knowledge from textbooks since I first learned how to read at the age of five.

Reading has helped to shape me into the person I am today. I learned important morals and lessons. I created memories with my parents and grandparents. I was able to open up my imagination to different worlds and perspectives, both imaginary and real.

It is the basis of my education and what will one day allow me to become a doctor. 

Unfortunately, there are people who were not granted the same opportunities at education that I was or are still becoming accustomed to the strange semantics of the English language (ex. Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo is a grammatically accurate sentence in the English language).

Fortunately, these people are able to turn to the YWCA Adult Literacy Program so that they too may create memories of reading to their children or grandchildren, or gain an education that will set them on a career path that they have always dreamed of. 

But the local YWCA Adult Literacy Program in Pottstown needs resources in order to continue to help people in the community. You can help by signing the pledge below. For every signature, an anonymous donor will give $1 to the literacy program to buy materials.

And just like that, with a simple signature, you can help introduce people in our community to a new world of information, imagination, and education.

Ursinus College's Contribution to Fill the Media Lab Challenge

I'm proud to say that the Ursinus College community came together to reach their goal of 100 items (okay, 99) to contribute to the Mercury's overall 20,000 item goal.

 

Ursinus College Donation

As of yesterday (Monday, April 2), The Mercury had reached the 11,000 mark in the number of food donations and was close to half of their goal to collect 1,000 laundry detergents. Several thousand more items are expected to come in over the next week from local schools and other donation sites.


You can see the Media Lab filled on the Fill the Media Lab pinterest board.

Donations will continue to be accepted at the sites displayed on the map below, up until Sunday, April 8. The 20,000 item goal is certainly attainable as long as donations continue to come in for the rest of this week.

It's all about coming together to give back to our community. I'm very proud of Ursinus College, the TownSquare bloggers, The Mercury, and everyone in the local community who has contributed to making this project such a terrific success.

Communities Coming Together to Give Back

I'm a member of The Pottstown Mercury's TownSquare blogging community. All of us TownSquare bloggers are part of other organizations and communities as well. But overall, we are all members of the Pottstown-area community, and now we are all teaming up in order to give back to our central community.


The Mercury announced last week that it would be collaborating with the TownSquare bloggers on the Fill the Media Lab Challenge.


The challenge is to collect enough food items to "virtually" fill the Community Media Lab, located at The Mercury's offices, with the food then being donated to local food pantries. The goal is to collect 20,000 (nutritious) food items as well as 1,000 containers of laundry detergent between now and April 8.


Why "virtually" fill? Well, we want to make sure that the food is getting to the pantries as quickly as it comes in, so the donations will be counted and then "pinned" to a Fill the Media Lab pinboard on Pinterest.

Let's (virtually) fill this space!

But The Mercury is not the only place where donations can be dropped off. Donation points have been set up at multiple locations throughout the area. Many of the drop-off sites are being featured by the different TownSquare bloggers, such as Positively Pottstown, 52 Ways to Wake Up a Week, and The Sanatoga Post. This handy-dandy map is also a great way to keep track of the locations where you can drop off items.







I'm also very happy to say that another one of my own communities, Ursinus College, has also pledged to take on the challenge and is a collection site.

Ursinus students have been asked to bring non-perishable food items to the UCARE (Ursinus Center for Advocacy, Responsibility and Engagement) office by March 16. They hope to collect a total of 100 items to contribute to The Mercury's overall goal of 20,000. Ursinus has a strong history of giving back to the local community and so it is only natural that they would take on this challenge and wish to help the area food pantries.


The idea for the Fill the Media Lab Challenge came from an article in The Mercury focusing on the fact that this winter has seen shortages in food pantries as a result of increasing food and fuel prices. When food pantries, such as The Cluster and the North Coventry Food Pantry, are not able to offer the food provisions and "luxuries", like laundry detergent, that many families have come to rely on, these families have very little to fall back on.

Let's show these families that they can fall back on their community in times of need. Individual communities, like Ursinus College, can come together to make a small contribution that will have a large impact.


To donate, visit any of the collection sites on the above map or bring food to The Mercury Community Media Lab, Hanover and King streets in Pottstown.