And the Name is...

The new name of our organization was ratified at the annual meeting in June. The discussion was passionate because you are passionate about helping children and giving them love - along with help with reading.

That shouldn’t change, no matter what we call ourselves, and don’t worry about using Project L.O.V.E. as the name - for years to come! We expect that, we’re having a hard time getting used to the new name ourselves.

For the information of those who weren’t at the meeting, there were a number of reasons for the name change listed by our Chair as a preamble to the discussion.

There may be a feeling that we are just being told what to do by the UPEI researchers, but there’s a whole lot more involved.

A number of years ago, the Board discussed copyrighting the name with a copyright lawyer. We learned that the name Project Love is already copyrighted by CODE (the Canadian Organization for Development through Education) for their Valentine’s Day project of collecting school supplies for students in developing countries. Check their website: www.codecan.org for more information on this.

Even though our name was spelled with all capitals and periods the lawyer explained that it was not different enough to copyright.

We should have changed the name at that time, because if CODE had wanted to, they could have charged us with copyright infringement.

We have had questions about the name connected to child sexual abuse. Male volunteers report getting “funny looks” from the RCMP when they apply for their criminal records checks. We’ve also received a few creepy emails from those who find our website on the internet.

The fact that we had to develop a new name for the intermediate and senior high school program (“BOAST” - Bringing Older Adults and Students Together) was a sign that the Project L.O.V.E. name was inappropriate for some of our students. Older students, particularly boys, weren’t keen to have anything to do with a program which sounds “sissy” to them.

Regarding the choice of PEI Volunteers for Literacy as a name, on the positive side it is self-explanatory in that we don’t have to explain any acronyms (LOVE, BOAST).

Also, the Board chose deliberately to call us Volunteers (rather than Seniors) for Literacy because some of our volunteers aren’t seniors, and because we included the students who volunteer to come out and participate in our program in the name.

Members at the meeting who spoke on behalf of keeping Project L.O.V.E. felt keenly that we will lose 13 years of good will and high profile under the name, and this is true.

In further discussion volunteers noted that school staff and volunteers are very happy with the name Project LOVE, and they like the warmth and cosiness associated with the name.

Others agreed that we are not a short-term project, but wished to retain the LOVE portion of the name - perhaps as the LOVE Program or something like this.

Another volunteer suggested that it is a shame to change such a nice name but it is being done for the right reasons - to attract more boys, and older students, and perhaps better funding as well. A volunteer noted that her local junior high school is reluctant to participate because of the cute image, but hopes that the new name will be more acceptable to older students and the school’s administrators.

All in all, it’s been an interesting discussion that makes us think about what we do - and that is good for the organization. And there’s no doubt that, even with the new name, in the words of Emeritus Board Member and former Chair Bernice Bell, “they could LOVE as older persons and as grandparents are well experienced in doing. LOVE was their skill on their resume, metaphorically speaking.”

Love is still the first skill that our volunteers need - love of helping children, love of reading. We’re not going to leave that behind.