The United Methodist Women (UMW) will be hosting a book drive during the month of September to benefit the Read to Grow program.
As described on their website, “Literacy begins at birth, long before the start of formal instruction in elementary school. By the time a child enters kindergarten, she or he already has been learning for 5 or 6 years. In fact, babies are born learning; parents are their first teachers and home is their first ‘school’.
Read to Grow helps build literacy right from birth. They are the only statewide nonprofit organization that connects with parents in the hospital setting and prepares them to take an active role in their child’s literacy development from day one. To help parents create language-rich homes in which children can develop critical early skills, we provide books to families and to the programs that interact with infants, toddlers, and school-age children and their parents.” For more information about the Read to Grow program check out their website at www.readtogrow.org.
Throughout the month of September we’ll be collecting new and gently used children’s books. There will be a collection box here at church, at the Barkhamsted Town Hall, at the Barkhamsted Senior Center, and possibly the New Hartford Town Hall. We are hoping to get a few more collection sites before September and will let you know where they can be found.
Over the summer months, if you find some great books at tag sales, or garage sales, or if you’re simply cleaning out your children’s book collections, please remember to drop them off at the church, or any of the other collection sites. Books should be for infants and children through 8th grade and be in good condition, without torn pages or writing in them. Please — no magazines, textbooks, outdated nonfiction, encyclopedia sets or coloring books. For additional information, please speak with Margo Fenn.
Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church 