Since September is National Literacy Month, those at FCLC decided to start the month with a kid's Literacy Carnival at the Chambersburg Mall! The event was a total success. An especially helpful surprise was the number of incoming Ship students who signed up to volunteer. Many of them helped with carnival games, scavenger hunts, face painting, and even dressed up as the Cat in the Hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2!
First Book was kind to donate around 700 books to give away to families. I helped mostly at this table, and also walked around to check on each table, taking photos and making sure things were going well. Watching the faces of children who were given FREE books was amazing-- one little girl even said, "This is the best place in the entire universe!" The books donated were a range of early children's books like Little Einstein and Disney Princesses to chapter books about the Jonas Brothers and Pirates of the Caribbean.
A magician performed for an hour in the middle of the day, which was a nice break between the morning and the afternoon activities. It gave the kids (and parents) a chance to sit down and be entertained for a bit while the volunteers grabbed lunch and prepared for the afternoon. The kids seemed to really enjoy the "wacky" magician.
Later, Dr. Cella of Ship University read books to a group of kids and, when she finished them, gave them away!
Once again, the success of this event has a lot to do with the generous Ship volunteers who woke up bright and early on a Saturday to spend their day promoting early literacy. We couldn't have done it so well without them, so thank you Ship volunteers!
No comments:
Post a Comment