By Jordan Studer
news@wbcowqel.com

Could reading to a child for at least 20 minutes a day truly have a significant impact on the development of children from birth to elementary? Evidence found supports the idea, and the Crawford Reads 20 literacy initiative is ready to get the word out and make a difference in the community.

United Way of Crawford County and Crawford County Family and Children First Council have partnered together to create Crawford Reads 20. The county-wide literacy initiative was created in an effort to encourage the community to read to a child for at least 20 minutes each day beginning at birth through elementary school. The goal is to get the community to improve its value of reading and academic success.

The committee of individuals that started Crawford Reads 20 were interested in helping improve parental involvement through reading. Their hope was that increased reading with parents would help improve family relationships and academics. Barbara Scott, Children’s Librarian at Bucyrus Public Library, spoke about what sparked the idea for the initiative.

“The community health assessment that was done recently showed that there was a significant number of parents that did not read to their children. And that was very troubling to a number of us in this community that work with young kids. So, we wanted to do something that would alleviate that problem,” Scott explained.

After seeing the results of the Crawford County Community Health Needs Assessment, the committee was formed and research was done to see what needed to be done. They found that by having parents read to children from birth through elementary school, many benefits followed.

“It’s been shown that the more they’re read to, the more they read, especially when they’re little up through… it increases their vocabulary, they’re shown to do better in school, as far as academic performance, it heightens that as well,” Scott explained.

The Crawford Reads 20 group was excited to say that although they are just forming a presence, there are still many ways the community can help them. They are currently taking donations of gently used or new books to distribute at each location of the Summer Lunch Program sites in Crawford County.

The locations where the books will be distributed later in the summer include Bucyrus Elementary School, Aumiller Park, Lions Park, Harmon Park, Bucyrus Public Library, Heise Park, East Park, Galion Arms, and Libby Lane. The initiative is still in the process of making this happen, but will announce when the distribution of books will begin.

The initiative is also accepting monetary donations and is currently in the process of becoming a 501c3 organization, so that gifts given are tax-deductible for the giver. Volunteers are also needed to help give away books at the summer lunch sites. Another goal is to have volunteers willing to read to those who come to the free lunch sites.

For more information on how to volunteer or donate, contact one of the committee members:

Josh Noblet, Director of Crawford County United Way, 419-468-4291 or director@unitedwaycrawfordcounty.org

Tina Wallar, Crawford County Family and Children First Council, 419-562-1631 or ccfcouncil@hotmail.com

Barbara Scott, Children’s Library Bucyrus Public Library, 419-562-7327 ext. 104 or barbarascott@hotmail.com

Jeannette Smakal, Community Representative, 419-562-1674 or 419-262-8352