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De Beers’ Flying Book Store was in the air over the past two months, helping deliver 6,900 books to youth as our expanded Books in Homes program visited 14 schools in nine Northwest Territories communities.
This year’s program was bigger than ever in the NWT, with the addition of five schools in Hay River, expansion supported by financial contributions from 13 of our contractor partners. This year’s campaign began April 11 in Wha Ti and concluded May 24 with a stop in Dettah, a Yellowknives Dene community on the shore of Great Slave Lake.
“This program is an investment in the future of the communities where we work,” explained Kelly Brenton, Superintendent of Indigenous Relations and Sustainability who coordinated the NWT program. “Literacy is critical to individual and community economic success and by putting books into children’s hands and homes, we hope we’re helping establish a love of reading. It opens doors to training, education and employment opportunities.”
Communities visited this year in the NWT were: Wha Ti, Behchoko, Gameti, Wekweeti, Dettah, Ndilo, Lutsel K’e, Fort Resolution and Hay River. De Beers also provided 700 books to Stanton Territorial Hospital Foundation which will provide one book to each baby born at the hospital during 2018.
In addition to hosting the Flying Book Store in each community, De Beers Books in Homes brought NWT Literacy Council workers to each school to hold activities designed to develop literacy skills. Representatives from the Student Financial Assistance Program of the Government of Northwest Territories were also invited to attend, so they could share information about financial support available to students considering post-secondary education.
“At each school youth took their time to carefully select the books that interested them,” said Kelly. "It wasn’t unusual to see students sitting in a corner or a classroom, engrossed in reading their new book within minutes of leaving the book fair.”
De Beers wants to thank our contractor partners for their contributions to the success of Books in Homes this year: Paul Bros. NEXTreme, Epiroc, SMS Equipment, Tlicho Orica, Det’on Cho Nahanni Construction, Wesclean, Deton’Cho Logistics, Det’on Cho Corporation, Summit Air, Bouwa Whee Catering, Acasta Helicopters, DTE Electric, and Det’on Cho Medic North.
Founded in 2003, the program provides books to youth free of charge to encourage reading and build home libraries in communities that do not have book stores. With the conclusion of this year’s Books in Homes, De Beers has distributed more than 50,000 books to NWT students over the past 15 years.