Handmade Valentine’s Day cards were delivered to local veterans thanks to students at schools located throughout Erie County – District 10. Legislator Joseph Lorigo, who represents the 10thDistrict, visited several of the schools recently to recognize the students for participating in his second annual Valentines for Veterans program, which honors members of the military for their service.

The John R. Oishei Foundation announced Monday that it is awarding a three-year funding commitment to Read to Succeed Buffalo’s (RTSB) early childhood literacy programs. The three-year commitment totals $495,000.

“A main target of our investments is to decrease poverty and help individuals to become self-sufficient,” said Robert D. Gioia, president of The John R. Oishei Foundation. “Research proves, and common sense dictates, the most effective investment we can make as a community is in high quality early childhood education. What we have recently learned however, is we need to continue early learning supports right through age eight if we want our low-income students to succeed. RTSB is one of the few programs in our community that is building a continuum of high quality literacy supports for children from birth right through third grade.”