First Book-Westminster and Walker Neighborhood House Join to Promote Literacy

First Book-Westminster volunteers will read to children from Walker Neighborhood House in New Castle Thursday, Oct. 25, at 4 p.m.

First Book-Westminster is a new advisory board and is part of the national network. First Book-Westminster works to promote and facilitate the distribution of new books to children in literacy programs in Lawrence and Mercer counties.

As a new affiliate, First Book-Westminster was given 3,000 books to distribute in the two-county area. Some were given to children from the Farrell Elementary School and Greenville Head Start at the Celebrity Series' presentation of "Arthur Tricks the Tooth Fairy." Additional books are earmarked for the Sankey Youth Center, an after-school program administered by the New Castle City Rescue Mission.

"First Book-Westminster is developing a grant program for children's organizations to apply for some of these books," said Dr. Eileen Morelli, Westminster associate professor of education and faculty adviser to the campus group. "Our goal is to get all of these books into the hands of children by next spring."

Dr. Mandy Medvin, Westminster professor of psychology and director of Westminster's Preschool Lab, is co-adviser to the group.

First Book is an international nonprofit organization whose mission is to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. In neighborhoods across the country, First Book advisory boards unite community leaders to provide books to children in literacy programs, shelters for battered children, housing project initiatives, soup kitchens, after-school programs, and other community-based efforts reaching children living at or below the poverty line. The organization has distributed over 45 million new books since its founding in 1992.

For more information about First Book, visit www.firstbook.org.

Contact Morelli at (724) 946-6035 or e-mail morellme@westminster.edu for additional information about First Book-Westminster and the grant program. 

Dr. Eileen Morelli