An innovative literacy program that encourages parents to read with their preschool children has received a $40,000 grant that will allow organizers to begin a new chapter in the program’s history.The West Virginia University Extension Service (WVUES) received the grant to implement the new program.
Gale Given, president of Verizon West Virginia, presented the grant in ceremonies at Sissonville Elementary School. The program, called Family Storyteller, will be piloted this summer at Sissonville Elementary and other Energy Express sites in Cabell, Kanawha, Lincoln, Monroe, Raleigh, Upshur, Webster, Wirt and Wood counties. Family Storyteller was developed after organizers received a $65,000 planning grant from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation. The Verizon gift will enable the program to expand to other counties in the coming year.
The six-week Family Storyteller Program is for parents and their children ages 3 to 5. Each week, parents will receive a take-home book to keep and tips on sharing books with their children. Under the guidance of a trained facilitator, parents will practice reading the books to their children and learn several activities to do with them at home.Led by WVUES faculty, representatives from several agencies and organizations will implement the program across the state. Those groups are the Governor’s Cabinet on Children and Families, W.Va. Department of Education and the Arts, W.Va. Department of Health and Human Resources, W.Va. Library Commission and W.Va. State College Extension Service.
West Virginia’s First Lady Sandy Wise, who has been promoting reading across the state with herLove to Learnmessage, was instrumental in Verizon’s decision to support the Family Storyteller program, according to Given.”The Family Storyteller program is an excellent opportunity to help parents share the love of reading with their children,”Given said.”I can’t think of a better start for preschool children than to learn how to read from their parents. Verizon is delighted to embrace this very worthwhile effort.”
Accepting the Verizon check were WVUES faculty Susan Gamble, Barbara Loudin, Kerri McCormick, Donna Patton, Ruthellen Phillips and Gina Taylor.”Family Storyteller is a natural program to include with Energy Express,”said WVU Extension professor Phillips,”because Energy Express is a summer reading and nutrition program for primary school children.”
Energy Express, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, just completed training nearly 600 AmeriCorps members who will conduct the program for 3,500 children at 82 sites in 43 counties this summer.