The Family Reading Partnership of Chemung Valley provides books and literacy outreach programs to children and their families, and one way they are doing that is by putting free books where the kids are.
This time of year, that often means parks and playgrounds, and that’s why the partnership has set up a new outdoor “Bright Red Bookshelf” at Miller Pond Park in Elmira.
The Bright Red Bookshelf is a Family Reading Partnership program that collects gently used children’s books and then distributes them on bright red bookshelves in permanent locations throughout the community.
Most of the book distribution points are doctor’s offices, community centers, schools, churches and other sites, and the Miller Pond Park bookshelf is the second outdoor location installed by the partnership.
“Our goal has always been to try to get as many books into the hands of kids as possible,” said Ryan Dunlap, Family Reading Partnership board member. “We realized that with a lot of our red bookshelves they’re in limited-hour places, but in the summer kids frequent playgrounds, and so we figured the next logical place to put our bookshelves would be right where the kids are — right at the playgrounds.”
The first outdoor Bright Red Bookshelf was added to Chapel Park in Pine City a few weeks ago, and another one will be placed in the near future in the Town of Big Flats Community Park, near the walking trail, Dunlap said.
Under the program, children can keep any books they pick out.
“They’re given out, no strings attached. So our goal is to run out of books, and that’s what we do,” Dunlap said. “We’re very happy about that because we get generous donations from people, and naturally sometimes our books do end up coming back because their kids grow out of it and then we just give them to another kid, so it works out great.”
The new outdoor Bright Red Bookshelf at Miller Pond was unveiled Wednesday, and among the attendees was Elmira Mayor Dan Mandell, who said the program is a great idea.
“It means a lot. Reading is fundamental,” Mandell said. “Kids spend a lot of time on their phones, playing games. This is an opportunity for them to sit down and read a book, at no cost to the family or the kids. It’s a great thing they are doing.”
For more information on the Bright Red Bookshelf program and how to support it, go to familyreadingpartnership.org/givebooks.
This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Family Reading Partnership takes free book program outdoors. See where
Reporting by Jeff Murray, Elmira Star-Gazette / Elmira Star-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jeff Murray, Elmira Star-Gazette | USA TODAY Network
