Walk a mile in VCLA’s shoes

Abler political pundits than I panned last week’s budget from the provincial Liberals, but it was still stunning to me that after seven days of keen protests the film tax credit was mostly axed.

I kept thinking about the liveliness of Call Me Fitz and the Hallmark Christmas movie filmed in downtown Wolfville until I had to agree with Graham Steele that the decision was an “awful, clanging error.” The former NDP cabinet minister even went so far as to suggest “this could be the Liberals’ own ferry debacle.”

Super blogger Tim Bousquet in Halifax termed the move “Stephen McNeil’s Avro Arrow” and Parker Donham lamented the fact that “many of the smartest, keenest, most creative young people in Nova Scotia - exemplars of the people we need to retain and attract if Nova Scotia is to succeed - will leave the province because of (last week’s) budget. They may not be packing yet, but they are gone.”

So what I want to do this week is give a shout out to Valley Community Literacy Association (VCLA). A year ago, this quiet and dedicated group was organizing a rally to bemoan federal funding cutbacks. Then VCLA went ahead and raised $12,000 for literacy and English as a second language training programs.

The Literacy Mile fundraising campaign is coming up again on May 9. The group’s annual budget is primarily spent on teachers’ pay or honorariums to learners and to volunteers. A very frugal organization, VCLA makes great things happen on a small amount of money because it taps into the generosity of the community and the talents of excellent teachers and helpers.

Generally a quiet guy, director Peter Gillis has been inspired to take the Literacy Mile sneakers on a tour. The big Literacy Mile sneakers, made of paper mâché by Linda Pierce, have essentially become the mascot for the fundraiser.

Gillis was inspired by the 2001 French movie Amelie. A subplot in the film revolves around Amelie’s widower dad, who has become a recluse. Amelie steals his garden gnome and gives it to a flight attendant friend. Photos get taken around the world and then sent the back as postcards to the father. He is, naturally, completely mystified, but his daughter is trying to prove that even a garden gnome can get around. “Well, I woke up in the middle of the night the other night and couldn’t get back to sleep,” Gillis said, “and I had this idea of taking a picture of the Literacy Mile shoes at various sites around the Valley several times a week from now until the ‘Mile’ on May 9.”

The photos are being posted on the VCLA Facebook page. Like that garden gnome, Gillis envisions the shoes will “suddenly show up in front of local ‘ landmarks’ in the Valley.” Then he rightly thinks the VCLA story will get around and the tag line ‘ walk a mile in our shoes’ for learners will be broadcast.

So far, the shoes have been photographed with emcee Darrin Harvey of K-Rock and sitting on the fender of one of Ivan Trimper’s trucks. Ivan has partnered with VCLA to offer a trucking course, which has so far led to seven learners successfully passing their air brake exams. Gillis says he expects that all seven will have completed their Class III license and be on the road by the end of May.

That’s what the grassroots VCLA can do and why it’s worth supporting.