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Wing commander, Sumter mayor challenge all to read

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Alexandria Mosness
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  Team Shaw kicked off the Department of Defense summer reading program at the McElveen Library here June 13.

Parents and kids came out for the registration for this year's program whose theme is, "A Midsummer Knight's Read."

The 20th Fighter Wing commander came out to welcome everyone to the start of the approximately month-long program.

"I want to thank everyone for being here for the summer reading program," said Col. Charlie Moore. "As always we have had great support from our counterparts from downtown. I think, fundamentally, reading is the bedrock to education. This is a great program for our Shaw members and their families."

Joseph T. McElveen, Jr., the mayor of Sumter, also stopped by the library to kick off the summer reading program.

"The thing about reading is no matter what you want to be in life, whether it's a doctor or professional athlete, you have to read," he advised the children and parents at the kickoff. "The more you do something, the better you become at it, and it's the same for reading."

"Today we started our annual summer reading program," said Sarah Sloan, McElveen library director. "This program is not only for school-age children, but also stroller-age kids, teens and adults. Our goal is to get children interested in reading."

With the online registration, the library went from 88 members signing up last year, to this year having 245 participants registering for the program, said Sloan.
This year, the participants will be divided into teams of preschool, kindergarten through second grade, third through fifth grade, sixth through eighth grade and ninth through twelfth grade.

The teams will compete against each other on a weekly basis and will turn in their reading logs with the amount of pages read each Friday to the library. Prizes and certificates will be handed out at the end of the program.

While the prizes and the competition add to the fun, the parents want to get their children engaged in reading.
"My wife runs an in-home preschool, so we utilize the library a couple times a month," said Tech Sgt. Leonard Marez, 20th Communications Squadron NCOIC of airfield systems and radar. "Knowledge is power, and we want to educate our young ones better than we were educated. We want to teach our children who are two and four the concept of reading and how vital it is."

The library also has left 20 registration slots open for those families who are relocating to Shaw.

For more information about programs the library is offering or to get more information about the reading program, call 803-895-4518 or visit www.20thfss.com.