Straight from the Heart” was organized with funding from the National Literacy Secretariat of Human Resources Development Canada. It was held to allow volunteers for Project L.O.V.E. (Let Older Volunteers Educate) and BOAST (Bringing Older Adults and Students Together) to meet, learn about new developments in education and literacy, and share information about the volunteer work they are doing.

Guest speakers at the Seminar included Senator Catherine Callbeck and the Honourable Marion Reid. Workshops were presented by Joanne McCabe of the Office for Students with Learning Disabilities at the University of Prince Edward Island; Georgie Clow, Reading Recovery specialist at the PEI Department of Education, Veronica Grandy, Resource Teacher at Eliot River School, and Brenda Rioux, family literacy specialist.

Volunteers who were able to attend the Seminar found the sessions both informative and helpful for their volunteer literacy work. In an evaluation conducted at the Seminar, the majority felt the quality of the presentations were very high. For the volunteers who were unable to attend the Seminar, it was decided to take notes and collect handouts from presenters to share in written form with all volunteers who are interested.

Thus this handbook is a permanent record of the Seminar and an opportunity to collect this information in written form for future volunteers as well.

The Board of Project L.O.V.E. (Let Older Volunteers Educate) is grateful to the National Literacy Secretariat for their support in conducting this Seminar, and in preparing this Handbook.

We warmly welcome Senator Catherine Callbeck to this Seminar.

She is no stranger to us; she is an integral part of the corporate, social and political fabric of Prince Edward Island. You all know that Senator Callbeck was once the Premier of Prince Edward Island, the first woman in Canada to be elected Premier. We are so proud of that achievement.

In addition to her many political activities, the Senator has had a long and active involvement with charitable and public service groups and organizations at all levels in the community.

In her current capacity as Senator, she was appointed to the Senate in 1997, and has been very active in the development of several Senate Bills. I will refer to only three - which deal with 1) the tourism commission, 2) early childhood development, and 3) the study on long term health care in Canada, which I understand was interrupted by the election call.