Reading raises money

The second annual Read for Cancer Challenge, initiated by children's author and illustrator Mary-Jane Martin, raised more than $7,600 for the Royal Victoria Hospital's Simcoe-Muskoka Regional Cancer Centre.

Participating schools included Father F.X. O'Reilly in Tottenham, St. Michael the Archangel in Barrie, Shanty Bay Public School and Innisfil Central Public School.

The challenge, which ran during Canadian Children's Book Week in November, asked elementary school children to collect pledges and read for someone who has battled cancer.