wfn.org | Red Bookshelf Project offers page-turning ministry to children

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Jan. 8, 2001   News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212)870-3803·New York
10-71BP{003}

NOTE: A photograph is available with this report.

By Holly Nye*

TROY, N.Y. (UMNS) -- Gayle Davis knows about children and noise. A case
manager with the
Rensselaer County Early Intervention Program in Troy and student pastor on
the staff of Saratoga Springs United Methodist Church, she has seen children
during their most stressful times.

So when a staff member of the local Women, Infants and Children (WIC)
nutrition program told Davis that books donated by United Methodists had
helped create a quiet waiting room for the agency, she knew that the Bright
Red Bookshelf ministry was making a difference to children.

In 1998, Bishop Susan Morrison organized the Bishop's Task Force on
Children, Youth and Poverty in the Troy Annual (regional) Conference. The
task force, comprising educators, social workers and others concerned with
the lives of children, sought to undertake a project that would make a
concrete difference for children of low-income families.  

By early 1999, the Bright Red Bookshelf Project was born. The brainchild of
Davis and Pat Thomas, the project was based on a similar initiative, the
Family Reading Partnership, in Ithaca, N.Y.

Thomas, a member of Ballston Spa United Methodist Church, is a former
elementary school principal who has seen firsthand the importance of books
in the home. "Some children get to school without knowing how to hold or
look at a book. Educationally, they are at a disadvantage from the start,"
she said. "And research has shown that children are more likely to want to
read books that belong to them."  

In addition to increasing literacy and school readiness, the program aims to
encourage parent-child interaction through reading together. The quiet
waiting room that pleasantly surprised the WIC staff is evidence that the
books are providing this kind of bonding. Instead of struggling to keep
their children quiet in a confined space, Davis said, "parents are taking
the kids onto their laps and reading to them from a wide variety of
attractive books."

^From the beginning, the task force was clear that it wanted to provide books
for children to take and keep, in contrast to a library or bookmobile.  This
was a difficult concept to explain to some of the host agencies.

According to Davis, one agency director asked, "What do you mean, put
children's books in our waiting room? The clients will steal the books!"
Eventually, she added, "we were able to explain to the person that we WANT
the families to take the books!"

Even the shelves are designed to be inviting to children. Small in scale and
painted an eye-catching bright red, the shelves are built by United
Methodist Men, youth groups and other volunteers. A volunteer or group then
"adopts" a shelf, placing it in an agency, soup kitchen, family court or
jail visiting area, and visiting regularly to keep the shelf stocked with
children's books.

The project began with two shelves, in the offices of Saratoga County Social
Services and the Family Court. Task force member Ilah Walser, a member of
the Ballston Spa church and lay leader for the Adirondack District, took on
the task of keeping the two shelves filled.

In spring 1999, the task force put out its first appeal for donations of new
and gently used books.  At that time, task force members were hoping for
1,000 books to stock the handful of shelves they had placed in Saratoga
County locations. In the intervening months, Davis estimated, nearly 15,000
books have been donated by churches, community groups and individuals, and
placed onto shelves.  

"When we started the project," Davis reflected, "I wondered how we would
ever keep it going. I've discovered that WE don't really have to -- people
are eager to do the work in their own backyards."

The project has grown beyond Saratoga County, as churches in Rensselaer,
Albany, Schenectady and Montgomery counties have built, placed and stocked
shelves in their areas. School groups have become involved in collecting and
distributing books.

A class of second-graders at a private school built a bookshelf and took it
to the local soup kitchen. Their school holds yearly book donation drives,
and parents help keep the soup kitchen stocked with books. During the recent
Christmas season, a major book retailer in Saratoga County promoted the
program, offering shoppers a discount on books they donate to the Red
Bookshelf.

# # #

*Nye is director of communications for the United Methodist Church's Troy
Annual Conference.

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United Methodist News Service
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