Jersey raffled for literacy

Woy Woy couple Ross and Caroline Edgington have won a Central Coast Mariners jersey in a raffle organised by the Beachside Family Centre in Umina.

Centre facilitator Ms Debbie Notara said the raffle was to support the Peninsula Start Reading Project.

"The raffle winners come from Woy Woy and are cleaners in the area," Ms Notara said.

"Ross and Caroline told me they had never won anything before and are huge fans being part of the Marinators' support team.

"It's fantastic to see the raffle prize go to two worthy winners."

According to Ms Notara, the raffle sold more than 600 tickets over the last two months and was drawn on June 29.

"The $1500 profit will be used to buy resources for our early literacy activities on the Peninsula," Ms Notara said.

"These activities include giving Let's Read Baby Book Bags to Aboriginal families, young mothers and families in need of literacy support, Bedtime Stories in Umina Library and Storytime in the Park for Book Week in August which had 300 families attend last year."

Established by Beachside Family Centre, The Peninsula Start Reading Project has been running for two-and-a-half years.

"Supported by Playgroups under Coastwide Child and Family Services, Peninsula Family Day Care, Young Parent Worker, Department of Health Early Childhood Nurses and community members all donate their time and energy to achieve our goal of children under five having a love of books and story-telling," Ms Notara said.

"We have given away around 150 Baby Book Bags and we are working with the Gosford City Council Early Literacy Committee in developing an Early Literacy Logo and Start Reading Song to help educate the community about the importance of reading to babies and children 10 minutes every day."

Press release, 9 Jul 2009 Debbie Notara, Beachside Family Centre