The Raise-a-Reader fundraiser isn't only a big deal in the big city -dozens of volunteers are preparing to take to the streets of Logan Lake, Clearwater, Chase and Barriere on Wednesday in support of literacy.

Although the event doesn't differ much from the one in Kamloops, there are a few subtle variations in each town.

Volunteers will still venture out in bright orange T-shirts and offer the public special copies of The Daily News for donations to local literacy groups and programs.

"No matter where you go, you are going to run into someone," said Barbara Maher, literacy outreach co-ordinator with the Chase literacy program.

Volunteers in Kamloops will hit the streets bright and early Wednesday in order to take advantage of the morning commute. But things will get going a little later in the village of Chase.

Maher will run a group of volunteers from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. in order to catch people in the morning and another, smaller bunch will head out from 10 a.m. to noon to greet the lunch crowd.

"We do all the (street) corners, every place we can possibly stop people. We're at the schools," she said, adding everyone from firefighters to town councillors are scheduled to pitch in.

"No matter where you go, you're going to run into someone."

In Barriere, the literacy outreach co-ordinator for Barriere and District Learning and Literacy has her volunteers scheduled for hawking between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Barb Gordon said the town isn't busy enough early in the morning, so it makes sense to visit street corners along the main street of Barriere Town Road later in the morning.

In order to take advantage of the mine traffic at Highland Valley, Raise-a-Reader co-ordinator Cara Holmstrup will set up her volunteers at the Esso gas station on Ponderosa Street at 5:30 a.m. and the Petro Canada on Chartrand Avenue at 6 a.m.

Volunteers will be stationed at those locations until 9 a.m., when they will move into the downtown. She said the fundraiser usually wraps up by 1 p.m.

Back up the North Thompson in Clearwater, Kerry Milner-Cairns of the Yellowhead Community Services will have a group of volunteers at various popular locations around town from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

She will also have a band of what she calls "rovers" stopping in at outlying business.

This is the third year Raise-a-Reader has operated in rural towns in the region. Milner-Cairns said the effort has become increasingly popular each year.

"I think people are starting to see the good work that we're doing," she said.

In each town, the money raised goes toward literacy programs like book exchanges, Mother Goose early literacy and outreach initiatives for preschoolers.