Dear Friends,
During this time of uncertainty due to COVID-19, I want to take a moment to sincerely thank all of you who support KDL through your tax dollars and donations. Many of you responded to our appeal for support of Mission: Read, a county-wide literacy initiative for children in grades kindergarten through third grade, which provides fun incentives to encourage them to read for 1,000 days. Thanks to your generosity, more than $17,000 has been raised so far!
Together, we can celebrate the impact of this program on the lives of children like 7-year-old Dalton (pictured here), who’s in first grade. Dalton loves to play outside and anything to do with rocket ships and solar systems.
Dalton also has autism and some developmental delays. According to his mom Stephanie, this program has given him more motivation to study his sight words and sit for longer periods of time to look at books. “He has shown letter recognition improvement as well as many new sight words,” says Stephanie. “He is nonverbal so seeing the words repetitively has helped him identify more words.”
Stephanie also says Dalton knows that if he reads for 1,000 days, he’ll receive a reading tablet as his final prize and describes Mission: Read as an “awesome program to keep kids motivated to read!”
Our commitment to early childhood literacy extends to our annual summer reading program, now rebranded as “Summer Wonder.” Set to launch June 1, children and teens who complete their summer reading goals each receive a book. Also, children ages 5 - 10 will have STEAM activities available to complete focusing on science, technology, engineering, art and math skills.
As of this writing, our library branches are closed to the public, but our staff continue to provide online support and resources for early literacy. With schools also being closed, the importance of the library’s work is more important than ever.
Thank you again for your support to ensure that the library continues to provide open and equal access to the resources, information and entertainment which enhance and transform lives.
With gratitude,
Claire Horlings
If you would like to make a donation towards our Summer Wonder program, you can do so on our website.
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