Twice Upon A Time Launches 2016 Development Appeal Campaign

November 17, 2016

Twice Upon a Time is a registered charity in Ottawa that provides free books for children from birth to twelve years old. Founded in 2014, Twice Upon a Time has given away more than 9,000 books to children, through their network of partnerships with local organizations.

This Fall, Twice Upon a Time is launching its first Development Appeal Campaign to fund its mission to support early literacy skills and foster a love of reading by making books available in the home.

Donations can be made through:

• CanadaHelps.org
• Email money transfer
• By mail

Twice Upon A Time Needs Your Help!

November 2016

Dear Friends and Supporters of Twice Upon a Time,

Twice Upon a Time – 2016 Development Appeal Campaign
Free Books For Ottawa Kids

Twice Upon a Time is a registered charity in Ottawa operated entirely by volunteers. Our goal is to encourage children to read by giving them new or gently-used books. Each child and adult who comes to one of our four locations can choose one free book during each visit to take home and keep for their own library collection.

Why? Reading, or being read to, helps children learn new words even before talking. Reading builds motivation, curiosity and memory. Reading helps children cope during times of stress. Being read to helps children practice listening skills. Early reading skills are a strong predictor of positive life outcomes.

For many of you, reading was an integral part of your childhood. I remember my mother reading me Beatrix Potter, my father reading me Farley Mowat, and my great-aunt buying me my first Nancy Drew. These memories are not universal, however: according to community profiles from the Parent Resource Centre, in Canada, 1 child in 4 begins kindergarten without the skills needed to learn how to read. In Ottawa, 25% of children are at risk of poor educational outcomes. In the Vanier neighbourhood, 43% of children are at risk; in Overbrook the number rises to 56%

Since our inception in May 2014, Twice Upon a Time has given away more than 9,000 books to children, through our strong network of partnerships with organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa, the Children’s Aid Society, the Overbrook Community Centre, Heartwood House, Habitat for Humanity, the Taggart Family YM-YWCA, Confederation Court Community House, and the Caring and Sharing Exchange’s ‘Sharing in Student Success Program’. We have been the recipient of an Awesome Ottawa grant in 2014, a Family and Community Service Award from the Rotary Club of West Ottawa in June 2015, and a finalist for Soup Ottawa’s February 2016 event. In June 2016, we received a grant to help us diversify our collections of books for young readers with low vision.

We are currently operating weekly free book stores at the Overbrook Community Centre in Vanier (open to the public), for clients of the Taggart YMCA Housing Office in Centretown, and for clients of Heartwood House member organisations. We are also running biweekly stores for members of the Don McGahan Clubhouse (Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa) in Vanier and residents of the Confederation Court Ottawa Community Housing Development. Each book we give away is stamped “This book came from Twice Upon a Time and now belongs to,” and we provide markers and crayons for children to inscribe their names in their new book. Along with these regular commitments, we continue to build partnerships with community organizations serving families, particularly in the Vanier area where the number of children under 6 living in low income households is 30% higher than average, according to the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study. We are also hard at work on our Canada 150 initiative to strengthen our collection of books representing indigenous stories and/or characters. This is in recognition of the strong indigenous, particularly Inuit, community here in Ottawa.

I have had the opportunity to volunteer at a few of our free bookstores. At one, we have a mother who visits every week after running errands, on her way home to her 5 children. She is often sitting quietly waiting when I arrive to set up. One week, she wasn’t there and I was surprised. The next week, thankfully she was back, and she told us: “Last week I couldn’t come because I had too many groceries and the children were really disappointed. It’s really helping them with their reading.” Another mum told us, “Thank you for this book store. This is really going to help my girl do better at school.” Another of our volunteers overheard a spirited conversation among family members about where their first bookshelf should go, now that they had some books to put on it. Lastly, a father took me aside one week to tell me that “this is a great project, because books are really expensive.”

Sparking a love of reading and book ownership among children in our city is only possible because of our more than 40 enthusiastic volunteers, local families who continue to donate or purchase books for us, and our financial supporters. We thank you all for ensuring that our first two and a half years have been so outstanding!

Since our first Saturday free bookstore at Heartwood House on May 24, 2014, Twice Upon A Time has grown as an organization. First, we obtained our non-profit status as a corporation fully registered in the province of Ontario (#1917201) and have completed our bylaws. Most recently, we were thrilled to obtain our charitable status from the Canada Revenue Agency (#8039577 RR0001) and we are also now registered with CanadaHelps – the trusted, secure Canadian one-stop shop that more than 16,000 Canadian charities use to handle on-line donations. We are also a participating partner in Giving Tuesday (Nov 29)-Canada’s national day of giving.

Many more groups have asked to work with us. Our ability to respond to partnership requests is limited only by the constraints of our funding, and the available time of our volunteers. Our primary costs are program costs: book purchases to ensure our stores carry books appropriate for the communities we serve, and promotional costs. As a volunteer-led organization, we have minimal operating costs, beyond storage fees, membership fees for community organizations, and insurance.

This Fall, Twice Upon a Time is launching its first Development Appeal Campaign. By making a financial donation to Twice Upon a Time, you are ensuring that more books are inscribed by their new proud owners, and sit on shelves in the homes of some of the most vulnerable children in Ottawa. Funds will be used for program or operating costs as described above.

Ways to give:

Donate Online through CanadaHelps.Org: an official tax receipt will be issued immediately via email for all donations.

Donate by Email money transfer: an e-transfer can be sent to info@twiceuponatime.ca. Include name, address, instructions for any dedication of funds, plus any necessary transfer information obtainable from your bank. A charitable receipt is issued for donations of $15 or more.

Donate by mail: fill out the form and send a cheque or money order. An official tax receipt will be issued for all donations of $15 or more.

Thank you very much for giving the gift of reading to Ottawa children.

Alexandra Yarrow
President
Twice Upon a Time / Il était deux fois
alexandra.yarrow@twiceuponatime.ca
www.twiceuponatime.ca