To the editor:

Each year, Altrusa International Inc. of Lawrence proclaims the week of Sept. 8 as International Literacy Week with the support of the Lawrence City Commission and the Douglas County Commission.

International Literacy Day, observed annually on Sept. 8, focuses attention on worldwide literacy needs. More than 774 million of the world’s adults (nearly two-thirds of whom are women) do not know how to read or write. Roughly 123 million children lack those same skills, and are often denied any access to education.

Altrusa of Lawrence volunteers throughout the year within our local community and in global activities, with literacy as our main focus. A few of the projects we provide are: donating a book to each infant born at Lawrence Memorial Hospital; reading to students and hosting a student book club at our LEAP partner school, New York Elementary; donating magazines to LMH; providing newspaper subscriptions for Health Care Access; creating a caregiver support library at the Douglas County Senior Services; presenting certificates for a new book to CASA children on their birthdays; providing scholarships to female high school students, as well as non-traditional college and study abroad students at KU. Internationally, we contribute toward books for schools in an impoverished country.

We welcome Lawrence residents to join us in promoting literacy in our community this week.