Mulberry Homes has donated £1000 to Assisted Reading for Children (ARCh), which will be used to purchase 100 new books for Oxfordshire school children to enjoy.
ARCh is a charity unique to Oxfordshire which reaches out to primary school children living in poverty and, with professionally-trained mentors, helps to support their literacy and communications skills.
Since beginning in 2008, ARCh’s Reading Helpers have transformed many children’s lives by giving them a love of reading and helping to improve their confidence, ability to listen and concentrate, and communication skills with adults and peers.
With many ARCh volunteers now returning to primary schools and working within the ARCh Covid-19 guidelines, the charity is having to provide duplicate books for each of its 300 volunteers instead of sharing copies, which is taking up a lot of time and finances. Mulberry Homes’ donation will be used to fund two copies of 50 different books for volunteers to keep as their own and take with them into schools.
An ARCh book box which volunteers take with them into primary schools
Elaine Adams, Development Manager at ARCh, said: “Thanks to this generous donation of £1000 from Mulberry Homes we are able to purchase over 100 beautiful new books for our volunteers to use in their sessions. The nurturing one to one sessions, which our trained, volunteer Reading Helpers provide to primary school children, makes a huge difference to their self-confidence and self-esteem.
“With a new selection of resources, which is now possible thanks to Mulberry Homes, we know that many more children will be developing a love of reading, which will go a long way to help their life chances and futures. Thank you, Mulberry Homes, for your consideration of ARCh and the children in this community.”
Kerry Jones, Sales and Marketing Director at Mulberry Homes, said: “I’m thrilled that we’re able to offer such a significant donation to ARCh. The wellbeing of school children, especially those living in poverty, has been hugely impacted during the past year. Developing a love of reading can massively improve a child’s happiness, as well as their social and academic skills.
“We’re very proud to be supporting ARCh and contributing to their important work. Having to provide brand-new books for each volunteer is one of the unforeseen challenges of the pandemic, and we’re thrilled that our donation will provide funding for 100 books, allowing ARCh’s fantastic volunteers to reach more children across the county and help them to enjoy these wonderful stories.”
The donation comes as part of the housebuilder’s 10-year anniversary campaign, in which it has committed to donating a total of £10,000 to charities and organisations local to its developments throughout 2021, with ARCh operating nearby to Mulberry Homes’ newly launched Launton Mews development in Launton.
For more information on ARCh, visit https://archoxfordshire.org.uk/.
Launton Mews is a brand-new development of two, three, four and five-bedroom homes located on Blackthorn Road. For details, visit https://mulberryhomes.co.uk/developments/launton-mews/overview/.