The Cushion Club is one of my longest service commitments – I may have started Wadadli Pen before I started volunteering with the Cushion Club (but don’t quote me on that). They were around the same time-ish though. I am not an active weekend reader and haven’t been in a few years (after more than 10 years of active service) but I still put out the media announcements and the kids-no-longer-kids from my time, some of them, still claim me as I claim them. Once a cushion clubber always a cushion clubber as we always say – so though I’ve only been to one Saturday session for this year, I remain a Cushion Clubber. And I am happy to report that a second generation, a young lady whom I first met when she was still in primary school is now one of the active club volunteers.
That’s her in the striped green top to the right of the picture during a visit by local author Floree Williams Whyte, now a Wadadli Pen team member, at one of our old locations.
It’s because of her that the Club now has two social media pages. You can friend one here and follow one there.
One of the things I still do for the Club is check the mailbox and handle communication. It’s mostly junk, but every now and again, we get an email from someone asking about sending their child or stopping by to volunteer or visit, or donate books. Some of those people are local but some like Mags, recently, are from overseas. Likely, the tourists who come through heard about us through Antiguanice which has hosted a page for us on their site for many years.
Mags came through…with books. I wasn’t there but Cedric – the club leader called to tell me about her visit as he does from time to time keeping me in the loop – and I understand her visit went well. So this is just a little reminder that, yes, the Cushion Club reading club for children in Antigua and Barbuda is still very much active. It meets 10:30 a.m. to 12 on Saturdays during the school year (not on breaks); there is no fee to bring your kids; volunteers are always welcomed; we operate out of the University of the West Indies Open Campus, one of many of our shifting bases over the years, so there are book storage issues but we won’t say no. Come through and if you need to contact us, email cushionclub@yahoo.com
As with all content on Wadadli Pen, except otherwise noted, this is written by Joanne C. Hillhouse (founder and coordinator of the Wadadli Youth Pen Prize, and author of The Boy from Willow Bend, Oh Gad!, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings, Musical Youth, With Grace, and Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure). All rights reserved. Subscribe to this site to keep up with future updates.
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