The Volunteer Reading Project

Acceptance of an invitation from the Public Affairs Specialist at the U.S. Embassy to participate in the Read to Lead Bahamas National Reading Programme in 2009 launched Laurenne McDonald’s mission to inspire children in The Bahamas to read.

Laurenne founded The Volunteer Reading Project in response to a teacher’s public Facebook appeal for books in September 2016.  The implementation of an aggressive social media campaign and relationships formed in the community resulted in the engagement of 148 volunteer readers and donations of 1,731 books.  As former Vice-President Membership of Healing Communicators Toastmasters Club 7178 she also created a club literacy initiative in March 2016.

Laurenne is a member of the International Literacy Association and the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative Network, a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.  She obtained a Bachelors Honours Degree in Finance and Economics from Kings College at The University of Western Ontario.   She held several positions in the financial services industry for eleven years, including Manager, Corporate & Commercial Banking.  Laurenne currently coordinates business development for private clients.