Here’s what happened this week at Rotary….

Everyone is challenged to sign up for the club Facebook page. www.facebook.com/Newbergnoonrotary  This is a new way to keep up with what’s happening with the club.

Mike Boock was here in one of his last times as a guest.  He’s approved for membership and we’ll be inducting him soon.   Welcome Mike.

Adec equipment in NepalNews from Nepal:  Laura Tilrico reports the dental equipment from Adec has arrived in customs and is sitting in boxes while it goes through the process.  Apparently there are still curfews and the authorities that have to release it aren’t available most days.  Bishnu Subedi, our Rotarian partner, is on top of it.  This photo was taken by Nepalese customs security to confirm the shipment as the Rotarians weren’t allowed to go in.   It should be released long before Rotarians Eric Bergquam and Jenni Ferrell (along with their team of dental professionals) get there in late November (they’ll be spending Thanksgiving in Nepal).

Peace Day Notice on 091915 082615International Day of Peace is this weekend, Saturday, September 19th.  Start the Peace Walk at Francis Square at 1 pm and then end up  at the GFU Amphitheater for the free Peace Concert.  Plus booths, displays and lots of fun!   For more info contact Suzanne Miller at 503-538-7947.  The day is sponsored by Rotary and George Fox University.

Duck, Duck:    It’s fall so there was lots of football talk, but it was nice to hear that GFU won their first game.  Jim Hirte and John Kerkanich returned from a hunting trip and Jim’s new knees served him well as they were clambering over the lava fields.

Program:    Passionate Children Services Library Employees 091615Korie Buerkle and Mary Lynn Thomas, children’s librarians at the Newberg Public Library, shared the early literacy activities and reading programs they do to encourage the love of reading in children.

This summer, with the help of a Rotary Club Foundation grant, the summer reading program expanded out to weekly visits to the summer lunch sites and added programs which helped to sign up 1,958 kids who each received a book to keep.  Over 5,300 kids and their caregivers attended 53 programs and kids read 40,890 days this summer which worked to encourage a daily habit of reading.  The program is designed to help fight the “summer slide” where kids don’t retain their reading skillinen k cardss.   Participating in library summer reading programs like Newberg’s really makes a difference.

Another program to encourage reading is Growing Readers which provides a book to every baby born at Providence Newberg Hospital (over 600 annually) and provides a library card and book to every kindergarten student in our region.

Mary Lynn and Korie provide four storytimes a week for babies to preschoolers.  Mary Lynn related how important it is to read to babies as reading affebabytimects their brain development.  They concentrate on the five early literacy practices;  Read, Write, Talk, Sing and Play.  This isn’t flash cards, but simply reading aloud, talking to kids, doing fingerplays which supports fine motor skills for writing, singing which shares words and sounds, and playing which supports learning letters and more.

Outreach services includes delivery of books (donated and purchased) to 20 child cares as well as waiting rooms, doctor’s offices and even the NHS suspension classes.   This program, Turnaround Books,  is being supported by a Rotary District grant written by Laura Tilrico.  The grant is especially helpful as it will provide the bilingual and Spanish books that are tough to get as donations.  Rotarians will be recruited to help with the delivery of these books as part of the Rotary grant, so you’ll be hearing from Jeff Lane, Community Service Chair later this fall or early winter.

Thelegoy do hundreds of programs each year that all support reading and learning.  This even includes a monthly Lego challenge program that encourages creativity and figuring out how to accomplish a task like building the tallest tower that Paul Jellum‘s grandsons won one month.

You can find out more from www.newberglibrary.org and sign up for the Facebook page as well as a weekly newsletter.

And I’ve got to add that these two professionals are so passionate about what they do and the kids and families of Newberg are so lucky to have them sharing reading with children.    I’m pretty happy to have them working for me.

Thanks Auggie Gonzales for the photos.  Library program photos courtesy of Newberg Public Library.

Send news to Leah Griffith, Newsletter Editor at [email protected].