Monday, July 15th, 2019
The Pramerica and Letterkenny Educate Together Primary School Time to Read partnership has been going strong since 2017 when the company expressed an interest in working with a local school.
Pramerica is based in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal and provides a vast range of business and technology services to their parent company Prudential Financial, Inc. As a large employer they see the value in growing their community connections.
Mary Moss, Information Security Associate who leads Time to Read on behalf of Pramerica comments that “an excellent partnership exists between Pramerica and Educate Together, the school were fantastic to work with and very welcoming. The programme is very manageable as it was not taking up too much of the company volunteers’ time in one week. I thoroughly loved it and I’m now going to miss going to read with the children each week as it really did have that feel good factor, I coordinated the programme throughout and really enjoyed everything about it”.
Mary Moss agrees that she would definitely recommend the Time to Read programme to other companies, “It provides volunteers with increased morale when they go back to work, it makes them feel like they are making a real difference in a child’s life and is a great way to build a partnership with a school in a local community. We all benefit from this programme.”
The school also sees many benefits from the programme and their growing relationship with Pramerica. Principal of Letterkenny Educate Together, Áine Fabisiak commented that the time given by volunteers to the children has a very positive impact: “The children enjoyed the benefits of reading on a 1 to 1 basis with an adult which is a luxury in a busy school environment, parents reported that their children looked forward to the sessions each week. It was a wonderful initiative that provided additional literacy supports and promoted a love of reading”. Áine also noted that it provides a valuable link for the children with their local community and gives them insight into the world of work.