Local Masons will once again volunteer to bake 4,000 pies this year in support of the Children's Dyslexia Center of Lancaster. The spring and fall fruit pie sales generate approximately 40 percent of the center's annual operating budget.
Spring pie orders will be accepted through Wednesday, March 13, and will be available for pickup just in time for Easter on Wednesday, April 17, between 2 and 6 p.m. at various distribution points throughout Lancaster County, including Ephrata, Mount Joy, Elizabethtown, Quarryville, and Lancaster. Pies will be available fresh or frozen in peach crumb, apple crumb, and cherry crumb varieties; pumpkin and sugar-free apple pies will also be available.
The Children's Dyslexia Center of Lancaster currently serves 30 children from Lancaster, York, and Chester counties, offering free Orton-Gillingham remediation for dyslexia. The center is a nonprofit organization supported through various fundraising events, including Easter and Thanksgiving pie sales, a walk in October, the Extraordinary Give, apple dumpling and chicken corn soup sales, and the sale of car wash coupons. The Children's Dyslexia Center of Lancaster is located in the Masonic Center of Lancaster County, 213 W. Chestnut St., Lancaster, whose members run many of the dyslexia program's fundraisers. For more than two decades, the Scottish Rite Masons, Northern Jurisdiction, have helped to lead the national effort to support children and their families as they overcome the obstacles of dyslexia through their financial support of 45 active centers in 13 states.
Dyslexia is a neurologically based condition that affects language acquisition, processing, and decoding. Recent research suggests dyslexia affects up to 20 percent of the population, reported Children's Dyslexia Center director Heather Hinkel. People with dyslexia typically have above-average intelligence, but they can struggle in a traditional academic setting. Those who do not receive help can suffer devastating personal consequences; Hinkel noted that dyslexia tops the list of reasons teenagers drop out of school. Dyslexia is treatable with remediation.
Since 2002, the Children's Dyslexia Center of Lancaster has tutored more than 175 students with a dyslexic profile. The center serves children on a first-come, first-served basis regardless of race, ethnicity, economic status, or religious affiliation. While there is no fee to the students served, it costs the center approximately $5,000 to tutor one child for one year. The center also certifies adults as tutors in Orton-Gillingham and each year offers four scholarships toward the cost of training.
For more information about the Children's Dyslexia Center of Lancaster or the pie sale, readers may visit http://www.childrensdyslexiacenteroflancaster.org, call 717-481-5680, or email cdclancasterpa@gmail.com.
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