Lee County Family Connection Spreads Kindness and A Love of Reading
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Lee County Family Connection, the local point of contact for the Get Georgia Reading Campaign, hosted a Grow Kind Community Big Read Campaign for all students in pre-K through fifth grade in September centered on spreading kindness and a love of reading to the county’s young learners.
Literate Lee, Lee County Family Connection’s literacy strategy team, which focuses on early literacy intervention from birth through age 8 with programs such as Books for Kids Book Clubs and Family Literacy Nights, spearheaded the campaign.
“We wanted to bring our community together through literacy,” said Patsy James, executive director of Lee County Family Connection. “Once we learned that September’s theme for the schools’ character education curriculum was kindness, we knew that had to be our focus. Then we found the book Grow Kind. All the different facets of the campaign, from the scavenger hunt to the community celebration, came together easily at that point.”
One pre-K program, two primary schools, and two elementary schools in Lee County received a Grow Kind kit with a small flowerpot, potting soil, and marigold seeds. Students planted the seeds and watched their flowers grow throughout the month.
These schools also received copies of Grow Kind, by Jon Lasser and Sage Foster-Lasser, for their media centers so that teachers could read the book to their students. Copies of Grow Kind are also available at all four library branches in the county.
The campaign tapped Amelia Reed to serve as Kindness Ambassador. Reed, who recently passed along the crown as Miss Georgia High School, has founded organizations like Bleed for Reed in support of the American Red Cross and the Kindness Club at Lee County Middle-School East.
Reed created social media content including clues for the Community Big Read Scavenger Hunt, featuring four clues located around the downtown area leading to a secret kindness quote. All partners spread the word through social media, including Lee County School System.
Students were encouraged to put the quote together and turn in completed forms to any Lee County Library System branches—or bring them to the Community Big Read Celebration held at Oakland Library, which attracted 85 students and their families.
Children enjoyed dinner, a “kindness crown” and a “kindness flowerpot” craft, and Reed read Grow Kind to the crowd. Lee County Retired Educators gave away books, and Lee County Library System handed out drawstring bags filled with supplies and information on the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten Program. Kids also had the opportunity to win 15 door prizes, including books and toys.
During the event, the four scavenger hunt winners were announced, and all received a copy of . Three winners received family passes for all Artesian Alliance facilities—Chehaw Park & Zoo, Flint RiverQuarium, and Thronateeska Heritage Center. The final winner received four gold passes to Mark’s Melon Patch to enjoy fall farm activities.
“We’re so thankful to the 25 volunteers who helped out during the event,” said James. “The success of this event brought unity to our community around reading. Every child, parent and guardian, and volunteer were smiling, laughing, and enjoying the event.”
Lee County Family Connection was recently selected as a recipient of Worldreader’s Let’s Get Children Reading Grant. The grant program is designed to support community-based nonprofit organizations and educational institutions dedicated to opening up endless possibilities to children and families through reading and igniting their curiosity and passion for knowledge.
“Literate Lee is already planning our second community scavenger hunt and celebration for March to complement the school system’s Read Across America activities,” said James. “We cannot wait to see our families engaged across the county to solve the literacy-focused scavenger hunt and celebrate with a community-wide literacy event.”
Contact:
Krystin Dean
GaFCP Communications Specialist
706-897-4711
krystin@gafamilyconstg.wpengine.com
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