Barnes & Nobles Recipient of 2019 Holiday Book Drive

(Peekskill, November 2019) The Peekskill Rotary - Literacy Lovers Project was selected as Barnes and Noble’s nonprofit recipient for its 2019 Holiday Book Drive, November 1 - through December 31.

Peekskill Rotary's Reading is Fundamental Committee, co-chaired by Diane Newman Kahn and Lisa Montalto, created a Literacy Lovers program three years ago to educate and inspire parents and their young children ages birth to grade 8 to read. The goal is to encourage a life-long love of reading for children by getting books into their homes and their hands. The committee includes former Peekskill Mayor Mary F. Foster, Lynne Nayman, Anthony Razukiewicz, Bruce Bellom and Sonia Garber.

With materials funded by the Rotary Club of Peekskill Foundation and support from Dain's Lumber and The Cortlandt Town Center, the committee crafted six “Golden Bookshelves” which are stocked regularly with age appropriate, new and gently used children’s books in both English and Spanish. The “Golden Bookshelves” are strategically placed throughout Peekskill community facilities serving children in need beginning with Hudson Health Center, Westchester Jewish Family Services and Fred’s Pantry. Books have been donated by generous and concerned community members as well as the Westchester Library Systems and Westchester School Districts. To date we have been able to put 28000 books in the hands of children for free thanks to all of the generous support we have received.

“The continued support and partnership with Barnes & Noble, Mohegan Lake for the third year in a row speaks volumes as to the significance of this project. “Allison Demato selected our club and literacy project for their Holiday Book Drive recognizing the true representation of a community effort. We are touched by the underlying beauty of this generosity going right back into the local community serving our local children. That is what it is all about! “said Lisa Montalto.

The Literacy Lovers and The Peekskill Rotary support the community initiative, Peekskill Basics, modeled after a similar program in Boston, Boston Basics. The program seeks to foster parenting skills that will help children achieve their educational potential and to promote literacy in our community where access to books in low income areas is limited. https://www.peekskillcds.org/domain/1004. Mary Keenan Foster, Assistant Superintendent of the Peekskill Schools commented, “Our goal is to encourage a love of reading in young children, leading to their academic success. Our project will work in synergy to support this significant effort.”

Diane Newman Kahn added, "When we heard the statistics from www.bostonbasics.org that “80% of brain growth happens in the first three years after birth,” our committee knew that our work needed to begin at the grassroots level. Getting books into the hands of children and tying in the import of Peekskill Basics supports our goal."

The research is clear. Young children must have access to books to be successful readers and productive members of society. Books need to be in their homes, not only in the schools. Children need to have easily accessible libraries for their own use and to enjoy bedtime stories read by others. There truly is nothing like holding a book in hand, enjoying the excitement of each page and the anticipation of much more to come as the next page is turned.

The Rotary Club of Peekskill was chartered 100 years ago. The club has about 90 members representing a cross-section of the Peekskill and Cortlandt communities.

Visit the Literacy Lovers web page for more information.