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Team Shaw kicks off summer reading program

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Krystal M. Jeffers
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  The Read-a-licious Fair kicked off a summer reading program for military children at the McElveen library here, June 12, 2012.

Designed to encourage them to read, the program is for children, teens and adults and is also intended to help them become active and eat right.

Lt. Col. Robert Snodgrass, 20th Mission Support Group deputy commander, his wife, Holly, John Kennedy, 20th FSS school liaison, and Lakeesha Washington, the wife of Lt. Col. Dalian Washington, 20th Force Support Squadron commander, started the Read-a-licious Fair by talking to the children.

"The library has a program that will last over the months of June and July and is themed 'Reading is so Delicious,'" Snodgrass said.

"Statistics say that 50 percent of children never pick up a book during summer," said Sarah Sloan, 20th FSS library director. "The goal is to get them to read out(side) of school."

"Reading is so Delicious is aimed to make reading fun," said Marie Stanley, the children's program coordinator. "The goal is putting fun into education ... We're going to have a really good time and they're going to win prizes for reading pages."

"Every week during this month and the month of July the library is going to choose a book and a craft on topics like (food) and the whole purpose is so we can become better readers," Snodgrass said.

All the events are scheduled on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays before and after lunch. The different days are for the different age groups.

Divided into six teams by age, the program is arranged this way: team one is pre-kindergarten to kindergarten, team two is first and second grade, team three is third and fourth grade, team four is fifth and sixth grade, team five is seventh and eighth grade, and team six is ninth to 12th grade.

The youngest children, teams one and two, are scheduled to come on Wednesdays. They will read stories, sing songs, do arts and crafts, and play outside games.

Teams three and four will have events on Tuesdays while teams five and six have events on Thursdays.

The older kids will explore poems and short stories, said Stanley. They are encouraged to bring in their own creative efforts, such as poems they wrote or a short story they found, and share with the group.

"It will be very interactive," Stanley said.

Besides the events on Tuesdays through Thursdays, every week on Friday the library will host a movie for all of the teams from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

"Even if a child is not part of the program they are welcomed to come and partake in the stories and activities," Stanley said. "They don't need to be a part of the program to enjoy the library."

"Seeing the children smiling, laughing and having a good time is my favorite part of the summer reading program," Sloan said. "... and knowing that we've done something to help them."

"We've (also) done something to help their parents get through the transition of moving or the transition of deploying."

"What the library is trying to accomplish is making sure that our military families are taken care of," Sloan continued.

Stanley added, "We are taking care of the children so when Mom or Dad deploys that's one less thing that they have to be concerned with."

"We want to keep the children's minds busy," she pointed out, "The summer program gives them a purpose and something to do that is fun so that they don't have time to sit there and think about the fact that Dad or Mom is not there. The program gives them something to look forward to."

To support military families the library offer many services. There's a coffee shop, a study room, online databases, and supplies for the College Level Examination Program. They also have audio books, DVDs, and music.

"We offer them a safe environment, all the latest books and best sellers, programs they can come and enjoy and a friendly staff," Sloan said.

Reading is so Delicious and other programs offered at the library are Department of Defense-wide to help families who change duty stations.

The entire library community, encompassing both DOD and public libraries, is participating in the summer reading program, said Sloan. This allows children who change bases to be able to continue to partake in the program and pick up where they left off.

"We're here for the military community," Stanley said.