On Thursday March 27, at the Northeastern University Donald F. Bailey Center, Pastor William E. Hall and his nonprofit organization Acts of Love, kicked off a Fundraiser in honor of the “Family Literacy Academy,” to help fight illiteracy across the world.
Hall’s organization ‘Acts of Love‘ is a strategic global initiative that provides resources to youth ages 3-19 that live in impoverished communities across the globe. Over the span of two tours, the “Love Young People” tour in the summer and the “Gifts of Knowledge” tour in the winter, Acts of Love have managed to give away over 103,000 books, according to Pastor William E. Hall, founder of Acts of Love.
“You can tell any young person that ‘I love you,’ but if you don’t love them in a way that better their lives, then that is called a weak love,” Hall said.
Hall said the youth who are with the most needs are the ones in rural communities that can’t afford simple things such as, books, clothes and other valuable resources.
He said 80% of young people in rural areas have never owned a book. In fact, he shared with the American viewers that statistics shows there are over 21 million adults globally who can’t read.
Hall said if adults are struggling to read, “how can we expect young people to know how to read.”
“We can’t,” he said. “Especially, when there is no example of literacy in the home.”
Hall said that the main goal of the fundraiser was to bring parents and supporters together and not just give money. And to meet the one who is behind this big initiative, Charles Anderson, who is the Principal of Jacob Beidler Elementary.
Anderson said Acts of Love decided to create the Family Literacy Academy to not only reach children but to lift parents up in education as well.
“Sometimes parents can fill removed from the classrooms,” Anderson said. “So we decided to create the Family Literacy Academy to help parents fill empowered to assist their children with their homework.”
Acts of Love Chief Publicist Jada Russell said the organization plans to keep reaching children even if it means meeting them in their own neighborhood.
“So many organizations pull youth out of their communities by telling them to meet us at our location. But sometimes you are going to have to reach youth right where they are,” Russell said.
She said when youth see the organization coming into their neighborhood, “it shows them you have a pure heart and a desire to give back.”
“And as you can see it actually works,” Russell said.