St. Joseph Reads kicks off with goal of improving literacy

Mar. 21—Community members came together Thursday to celebrate the official launch of a literacy program for people of all ages in St. Joseph.

Visitors gathered at the East Hills Library for the kickoff of the program, which has a goal of bringing businesses, organizations and individuals together to change lives through literacy.

"We believe that by working together, we can harness resources and have more of an impact than we can if we just work in our individual silos," said Carol Burns, chair of St. Joseph Reads.

St. Joseph Reads is comprised of around 15 representatives across the community, including the St. Joseph and Rolling Hills Library system, the school district and the United Way.

Members of the group came together with the understanding that children in the area are struggling to learn how to read. It's an issue that Burns said the school district should not have to solve on its own.

"They need the community to come together, help them with resources, help them with volunteering efforts," she said. "But just to come together and think of creative ways that we can kind of work together to change that."

One attendee brought her children to the event and said literacy is important for her kids to have access to any information they need in the world.

"Literacy is something I'm so passionate about, and it's something I want for not only my children but all the children, so that they really have every opportunity out there," Morgan Skaith said.

St. Joseph Reads' first goal is to begin a conversation within the community about literacy and why it needs to be a priority. The second goal is to highlight the community's ongoing literacy efforts within St. Joseph's libraries.

"There are so many programs that are here for adults and children, and we want to encourage the adults to take their children there, get in a library, and start them on that path of literacy," Burns said.

They are also working with the school district on a kindergarten readiness initiative.

"A lot of parents have questions as to what skills their children need to have before they enter kindergarten," Burns said. "So we're going to help them with that question."

Burns encourages adults to get involved in book clubs.

"Both libraries (St. Joseph and Rolling Hills) have book club kits in which they have 10 to 15 copies of various titles with discussion questions," she said. "So there's no cost in starting a book club."

Mayor John Josendale made a proclamation at the event, and he said it is very easy to show support and enthusiasm for a program tied to reading because of the influence it had on him as a child.

"When you talk about things you remember as a kid and I remember reading, I remember going back to the stories and listening, and I always loved having someone read to me," he said.

Anyone can get involved with St. Joseph Reads or learn about the program and its upcoming projects at https://www.stjosephreads.org/.