Local Effort Supplies Books

ROGERS — w/photo, infobox

Local Effort Supplies Books

By Amye Buckley

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ROGERS — There were two books under the battered Christmas tree when Jennie Rehl, principal of Grace Hill Elementary School, made a home visit last year.

The television was broken and the 1-foot tall tree looked as if it had been rescued from a trash bin, Rehl said, but the books were new. Rehl said she congratulated the child on the Christmas presents.

The books came from “those pretty ladies” at school, the child told Rehl.

They were not Christmas presents, but two of the three books each second-grader gets through the Reading is Fundamental program from the women of the Junior Auxiliary of Rogers-Bentonville.

Classmates told the child presents go under the tree, so there they went. At night the child would pull out the books and read to a younger brother.

“It was probably the first year he had something under the tree,” Rehl said. “It might have been the first year he had a tree.”

For 35 years the Junior Auxiliary of Rogers and Bentonville has distributed books for the Reading is Fundamental program. After federal funding was pulled from the national charity earlier this year, the Junior Auxiliary began funding the entire local effort, said Michelle Sell, auxiliary secretary and chairwoman of their Reading is Fundamental program.

As a Reading is Fundamental partner, the group gets discounts on books, but the program costs about $10,000 a year, almost four times what their contribution was before. Donations and a local fundraising event will pay for the program. Books cost an average of $2.50, Sell said.

The group will now visit fewer schools. Last year 1,490 second-graders at 16 schools chose three books each through the program, this year 1,251 students will take books home. Sell said they can add schools back in, if they find local funding.

“It's heartbreaking when you have limited funds,” Sell said.

Pea Ridge Primary School was one of two schools dropped from the program. Garfield Elementary School in the Rogers district was the other.

It isn’t just about the books; the children also miss the visitors, said Principal Keith Martin of Pea Ridge Primary School. The local parent-teacher organization will bring in guest readers this year.

“It’s special when someone comes in and takes the time to read and the children pick up on that,” Martin said.

Money for Reading is Fundamental was cut by $25 million, said Judy Cheatham, vice president of the organization’s literacy services. Cheatham visited Rogers on Monday as Grace Hill students celebrated the first stop of the national Be a Reader tour. Sponsored by Buddig lunch meats, the tour’s aim is to bring awareness to reading and nutrition needs among children.

The partnership between businesses and the non-profit group is part of the fundraising campaign, Cheatham said. The tour’s other stops are San Antonio,; Pleasanton, Calif.; Charlotte, N.C.; and it will end in Detroit on Oct. 30.

Grace Hill received 10 food-themed books for the school’s library as a result of Monday’s visit and students got to choose a title to take home.

Second-grader Megan Gollardo picked “I Will Never Not Ever Eat A Tomato” by Lauren Child. The title won her over.

“I thought it would be funny,” Megan said.

Every opportunity to put a book in a child’s hand is important, said Ashley Williams, principal of Bentonville’s Mary Mae Jones Elementary School. Because the gift comes from outside it makes it even more special. Second-graders beam smiles and can’t believe the books are theirs to keep.

“Literacy is foundation,” Williams said. “We have to have that.”

Reading is critical to student success, Cheatham said. Reading is Fundamental focuses on providing books to children younger than 8 and is the largest children’s literacy nonprofit group in the U.S. The organization’s mission is to reach children in low-income families or those who don’t have transportation to a library.

“It's easier to teach a child to read before third grade than anytime thereafter,” Cheatham said.

One in six children who don’t read at a proficient level in third grade don’t graduate from high school before they turn 19, according to a 2011 Annie E. Casey Foundation study. Twenty-two percent of children living in poverty don’t graduate at all, according to the same study.

Low parent incomes for students at Grace Hill qualify 87 percent of students for free and reduced-price lunches. Students qualifying at Mary Mae elementary dropped to 48 percent this year, Williams said.

Reading can break a poverty cycle and show children there’s more to life, Cheatham said. A 25-book family library can make the difference for a young child.

It is important for parents to read to their children, no matter their literacy level, Cheatham said. Even reading the back of a cereal box can help incorporate literacy into a child's life.

“It shows that you care,” she said.

Children need books so they can practice reading, Rehl said. School libraries help, but children want books they can keep.

“To have something they own — that’s huge,” Rehl said.