Discover our "Beyond Reading" exhibition!

On June 16th, JAME celebrated its 30th anniversary at Quai 5160 in Verdun. 30 years of stories...

During the evening our exhibition "Beyond Reading" was unveiled, featuring 30 portraits of inspiring volunteer-child matches.

Through its flagship home-based reading support programme created in 1991, JAME helps create intergenerational and intercultural connections between volunteers from the community and children referred by their primary schools for learning difficulties.

In 30 years, JAME has seen nearly 3,000 volunteer-child pairings. 3000 stories of stories...
But above all, human adventures that often go beyond reading.

These portraits were made possible thanks to the volunteers and families who agreed to participate, as well as to Julie Durocher, a talented photographer from Verdun, not to mention our astute authors Stéphanie Bedou and Bérengère Ruet, and our creative graphic designer Nadia Béliveau, and finally Maria Sol Terraza, who orchestrated the whole thing magnificently.

Discover the portraits!

During the evening, we had the great pleasure of having among us the brilliant and sympathetic journalist Rima Elkouri, from La Presse, who published a very touching article: "Passing books, changing lives" .

Some of the magical moments below were captured by our photographer for the evening: Marianne Charland. These artistic shots accurately capture the emotion of the event.

Thank you all for joining us!

JAME: 30 years of stories

This year marks the 30th anniversary of our organization! What a great achievement! To date, thousands of children and their families have benefited from reading support that has helped them learn! To mark this happy occasion,JAME is organizing two major events as part of its 30th anniversary:

  • The creation and exhibition of 30 portraits of twinning beyond reading that have taken place between volunteers and children over the past 30 years. They will be unveiled in the summer of 2022.
  • a series of monthly meetings (conferences, webinars, round tables, etc.) addressing the issues of diversity and inclusion through education and children's literature today. After a first open house in December 2021 to discover our pedagogical tools, several other meetings followed: "The book, beyond borders: a treasure that brings us together", "the francization of children and adults: issues and perspectives", and "Working in a multi-ethnic school environment: views from inside and outside the classroom.

Would you like to attend the next meetings? Click here

   

Celebrating in the parks

For JAME, the end of the school year is a time to highlight the efforts and perseverance of all the volunteers and their little readers throughout the school year! Every year, the JAME team organises a big party to which everyone is invited!

After many months of seeing each other in Zoom, JAME invited its volunteers and families to one of the parks in their neighbourhood! For many, these small, intimate meetings allowed them to meet for the very first time and to get to know each other in person! After many months behind a screen, these were beautiful and emotional moments! There's no doubt about it, we were all very happy to have a break from the virtual world!

On the spot, the young and old were very attentive to the narration of a Kamishibaï animated by some members of the team: Audrey Archambault, Stéphanie Bedou! Before leaving, each volunteer and little reader was presented with an honorary diploma to illustrate their commitment, support and, above all, their resilience following a year full of colour and emotion! All the children, including the siblings, received books as gifts to cultivate the pleasure of reading at home!

It was the perfect occasion to thank in a special way the commitment of our volunteers celebrating their 5, 10 and 15 years of volunteer work at JAME! Thank you to Ms. Diane De Grandis, Ms. Hélène Delisle, Ms. Nathalie Dion, Ms. Diane Drouin, Mr. ClaudeLuc and Mr. Gilbert Letendre! Your support in reading has been a precious tool for all the children you have accompanied over the years! With your help, they have developed the pleasure of reading! Reading gives you wings!

We would like to thank the merchants on Promenade Wellington: Chez Robin, Chez Copette et cie , La Pâtisserie de la Gare and Dollorama for your sponsorship donations! Also, thank you to the McCord Museum, Pointe-à-Callière Museum, Château Ramezay Museum and the MAC for their generosity! Once again, the spirit of community and sharing was on display! Finally, thank you to Canadian Tire of Ville Lasalle for the donation of flowers and herbs!

Finally, we would like to thank our generous sponsors in the publishing industry who have allowed us to spoil our little readers and make our annual party a success! We would like to warmly thank the following publishers: Soulières, Erpi, Gallimard Ltée, Les 400 coups, Québec-Amérique, Hurtubise HMH, La Pastèque, Boréal, La courte échelle, Michel Quintin, Édito jeunesse, Isatis.