Bob Blacker helped drive the success of Write to Read BC, and is now a co-lead with Dr Shirley-Pat Gale. Blacker is also a retired inspector of New Westminster Police and a longtime Rotary Club volunteer.
Blacker first joined a Rotary Club in 1996. He has since served as Club President and, in 2008-2009, as district governor for Rotary District 5040. This district consists of 54 Rotary Clubs across BC.
In 1998, Blacker became an Honorary Aide de Camp to Steven Point, then lieutenant-governor of BC. In 2007, Point and Blacker started working together to get books into isolated Indigenous communities across BC. This led to the Write to Read BC project.
In 2012, Blacker was left to carry on as the project leader when Point returned to the Bench as a Provincial Court Judge, having completed his term as lieutenant governor of BC. Both men had high hopes for the project, but never dreamed that Write to Read BC would be as successful as it is today.