PORTLAND, Ore. - In an effort of continued collaboration with the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Portland Metropolitan Area, the Lewis & Clark College Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) has recently made a $1000 donation in direct support of the Club’s Literacy Initiative. Funds for this donation were generated through both the SAAC Garage Sale and the SAAC Coin Drive.

Rose Rezai, the Development Manager of the Portland Boys and Girls Clubs explains the initiative in more detail “We are very excited about our Literacy Initiative, which is a new program we're implementing at all six of our Clubhouses. The program is mainly targeted toward children who have been labeled as dyslexic. This is approximately one in five kids nationwide, and at our Clubs is closer to two in five. Our Literacy instructors have just completed a six-week training in a teaching method that is proven to be effective in helping dyslexic kids learn to read. This is extremely important so that they don't end up falling behind their classmates to the point where they either drop out of school or are placed in Special Ed classes where they really don't belong.

Our program will help these kids by giving them the tools they need to learn in a way that makes sense for them. Basically, dyslexic kids are spatial thinkers, rather than linear thinkers, and all they need is a method of instruction that is geared toward their spatial thought process. We're providing this program to hundreds of kids as part of their $5 per year membership fee, with no additional cost to them. Since most of our Club families can't afford private tutoring, for a lot of
kids this is their only chance to get the one on one instruction they need to start doing well in school.”

For more information about the Boys and Girls Club of the Portland Metropolitan Area and the Literacy Program click here