When’s the last time someone read to you?

Walter read to us last week.

If you were at our meeting last week, it was probably when Walter Want read “The Pigeon Finds A Hot Dog” to our club.  It was priceless. With his flair for dramatic emphasis, it was obvious why Walter is one of the favorite volunteer readers in the local SMART–Start Making A Reader Today–program.

Walter has been our club’s coordinator for this literacy service project for a number of years. Since Sept. 8 was National Literacy Day, and Literacy is one of Rotary’s 6 Areas of Focus, the SMART program was a timely topic. Walter invited Linda Ochiltree and Julie Firth, local SMART coordinators, to update us on the program.

Julie Firth, left and Linda Ochiltree, local SMART program coordinators.

SMART is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. It was founded in 1992 by Neil Goldschmidt  when Oregon schoolkids were found to be falling behind national standards in reading.

According to their website, SMART is a non-profit, volunteer-driven tutoring program local to Oregon for at-risk K-3 readers. It has grown from serving 585 children at 8 schools at its inception to serving 7,244 children at 223 sites in 2011.

The SMART concept involves each student getting one-on-one attention for 60 minutes per week as they read with a volunteer to help boost their confidence in their reading ability. Additionally, the students get to take two books home each month over the seven months the program runs each year (mid-October to mid-May), in order to make more reading material available at home.

“We gave away 1400 books last year,” said Linda, who is a retired children’s librarian.  “We were able to bring in 500 books last summer and we are very thankful to Rotary for the donation to do that.”

Local SMART volunteers read with students at Edwards and Joan Austin elementary schools.

If you are interested in being a volunteer, you can sign up and get your background check online at getsmartoregon.org.  Linda recommends starting out as a substitute to give the program a try.

Supporting SMART is just one of a number of ways our club supports learning. With our scholarships, our support of the Newberg Library’s summer reading program, and the dictionary project, we are people of action in this area of focus!

P.S. Walter also highly recommends the book “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive The Bus.”

Walter Want (center) and Corey Zielsdorf (back to camera) join volunteers from the Early Bird club to cook hamburgers for the “Welcome Freshmen” lunch at Newberg High School Sept. 5th.

Okay, fellow Rotarians….have a challenge for you. Our ace photographer, Auggie Gonzales, will miss the next couple of meetings while on a very special trip to Paris in celebration of his wife’s 60th birthday. Please help me take photos at the next two meetings. Bring your phones (or regular cameras) and snap away. Don’t need pics of the speaker only….how about a snap of your tablemates? The buffet line? Whatever strikes your fancy. Please email them to me at: [email protected].  Sure could use the help! Muchas gracias……

GUESTS

Shannon Buckmaster brought her neighbor, Emily Chlumak, who was interested in checking out Rotary.

Jack Czarnecki’s wife, Heidi, also joined us for lunch.

Welcome to the world, Amelia Aylor!

ROTARY BABIES

Congrats to our two first-time dads!

Andrew Aylor and his wife welcomed a baby girl, Amelia (right), born Sept. 5th.

Dan Keuler and his wife welcomed a son, Jackson, born Sept. 3rd.

 

ITEMS FOR YOUR CALENDAR 

This Saturday, Sept. 16, at 11 am is the “Peace Pole Trail Walk” in commemoration of the International Day of Peace.  Join us at Memorial Park for a short walk that connects some of the 50 poles planted recently by our club and community. And on Sept. 21st, please join in on our “Random Act of Kindness–Newberg” Day.  Just do something nice for someone you don’t know to help make our community an even nicer place to live. 

Seems like a long way off, but it’ll be here before we know it: Saturday, Dec. 2 is the date for the Christmas Tree Lighting at the Library this year.