Read and feed. That’s the goal of Mount Saint Agnes Academy’s month-long initiative to encourage reading, while contributing to the worthwhile cause of feeding the hungry.

“It seems that we cannot pick up a newspaper, or listen to the news on the television or the radio without hearing about the tough economic challenges that are occurring in Bermuda,” said Grade 1 teacher Karen Camara.

The need is real. According to an estimate by Margaret Ward, executive director of the Eliza DoLittle Society, there are up to 5,000 islanders who suffer from hunger to some extent.

For the month of February, children in Kindergarten to Grade 8 will have an opportunity to help tackle this social problem by collecting pledges from family and friends in the form of non-perishable items. At the end of the month, children will return to their sponsors with the record of what they have read, or in the case of the younger children, what has been read to them.

“The Read and Feed programme is a non-traditional approach to raising food items,” said Mrs Camara. “We would really love to see the benefit be twofold — for the kids to hone their reading skills, while growing their passion for reading and for those in need to be fed.”

Collected food items will be donated to the Eliza DoLittle Society to support their Daily Bread Program, whose mission is to reduce hunger and food wastage in Bermuda by collecting and distributing food to agencies that feed Bermuda’s hungry.

If you are interested in supporting this foodraiser initiative, please contact Mrs Camara on kcamara@msa.bm.