L-R: Gerry Paquette, Les Trevor and Ken Williamson of the Red Deer Optimist Club present The Foundation for Red Deer Public Schools with a donation on Jan. 21, 2025, at Glendale Science and Technology School. (rdnewsNOW/Ashley Lavallee-Koenig)

By Ashley Lavallee-Koenig

$13,000 DONATION

Optimist Club of Red Deer makes generous donation to Reading College

Jan 21, 2025 | 12:37 PM

The Foundation for Red Deer Public Schools has received a $13,000 donation from the Optimist Club of Red Deer to support its annual Reading College program.

Reading College is heading into its 14th year and provides students moving from Grade 2 to Grade 3 with additional reading and writing support over the summer.

Thanks to fundraising and donations like this one, the program is free to attend and provides students with transportation, breakfast, lunch and access to fun-filled afternoon activities.

“We are really happy and proud to be able to do this for reading college,” said Optimist Club president Les Trevor. “The importance of reading is not only being able to read, it’s probably the foundation of life that will carry you on to do whatever you want to do and do really well in it.”

Trevor shared, the club raises money throughout the year through events like bingos and casino nights, 50/50 draws and more. It has been supporting the Reading College program since its first year.

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“It’s all that kind of manpower and all that kind of volunteerism that it takes to do this,” he said.

The average cost to offer the program is about $100,000, or about $2,000 per student. In its inception, the program had 64 students and lately, its been serving closer to 70.