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KEYS |
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KEYS is a group of community members who focus on prevention efforts for children 5-10 years of age. Minutes
of the Keys Meeting Meeting
was called to order by Elna Kawal. The
meeting was held in Linkletter Hall at the Olympic Memorial Hospital because
of the past trouble trying to conference with Irene out in Forks.
Those attending were Elna, Bonnie Moses, Judith Morris, Kathleen
Dionne, Patty Hanna and Elsa Johnson. And after some struggle and 20 minutes
later, Irene Smith was able to join us by Tele conference.
Thanks for your perseverance Irene! Kathleen
reported on the success of getting the books that Cynthia had ordered to the
Elks and helping with the gift baskets.
Said that there were some books left over which the Elks wanted to
use next year. It was suggested
that they might be willing to help with one of the festivals this summer
where a reading booth would be set up and books given to children. Judith talked about how the collection of the slightly used
books was very successful where a group such as the Holy Trinity Lutheran
church had taken that on as a project, and was responsible in collecting
books. We did not have as much
success where the collection boxes were just left in the grocery stores.
We might want to seek out some other groups to take the collection of
the books on as a project. Elsa
said that she works with the Son’s of Norway and filled over 50 bags this
Christmas, but that there was no money to purchase books to put into the
bags. She was going to keep
trying to encourage this group to include the books.
She also said that she has ties with St Andrew's Episcopal and the
Lutheran church and might be able to get some support there. She also was
willing to get together with Kathleen to write a story about KEYS and to
help us spread the word about literacy and our efforts. Patty
mentioned talking to Channel 3 and doing radio spots. Also have some groups include write-ups in their club
newsletters. Judith
suggested that we define our goal. If
our goal is to get kids to read - than for KEYS to distribute books would be
a means to achieving that goal. Kathleen
reported on the findings from the “90% Reading Goal”. Ways they found to publicize reading were - 1.
School
and business marquees 2.
Employee’s
news letters 3.
Home
health Care nurses. 4.
Wearing
and giving out buttons with Read Now – or what ever slogan we want to use.
5.
Transit
bus signs. There was some talk
of using the school bus signs. Elna
had asked Mike Joyner, Sequim Superintendent and was told that we could not
do that. Patty
said that The Learning Foundation is already giving out books to at Risk
Families. Patty also suggested that if we go with the transit bus signs that
we might be able to borrow them from the Kennewick group. Irene talked about the need to help young children to read for information, pleasure, and communication. And the importance of stressing the need for children to be read to at any age. Elsa
wanted to expand our focus to include smaller children and so there was
discussion about the different programs that were already focused on this
age group and that the purpose of our group was to expand and keep literacy
in the for front, beyond just those early years.
Patty mentioned that home visiting and the parenting classes and
first books programs were targeting this group. (Mary Morgan’s group) Irene
talked about how children in the middle elementary years are still finding
reading hard work and therefore don’t read for pleasure.
Being read to not only models the importance of reading but also
makes it a fun activity both for at home and in school. Irene’s school is
doing a Winter Reading Minutes form January through May. Forks also got a
grant to give each First grade child a book, bookmark, and pencil on their
birthday. Irene was going to
send Patty the information on who gave them the grant. Might be some thing that we could suggest to the other school
districts and something that we could put in a grant to Haller Foundation or
Sequim and PA Education foundations. Patty
and Judith talked about the PA Ed. Foundation supplying books for the school
busses. They were going to find
out if PA is still putting books on busses and if the stopped, why. There
was discussion about a “Drop everything and read campaign at the schools
(Irene). And a Get caught reading campaign (Kathleen) Kathleen
wants to pursue getting Libby Corell involved finding out what kind of
suggestions she might have to help us. Things
decided at this meeting – Our
goal will be to enable every child in Clallam County to read for
information, pleasure, and communication. We
will strive to work with groups in Clallam County to promote this goal by
distributing books, coordinating with service groups to help with reading
booths, and to do media blitzes to keep the message of reading to your child
in the forefront of everyone’s mind. 1.
Next
meeting will be at the hospital - with the Tele conferring with Forks.
Irene will get the OK to call into the Hospital, since the hospital
will not allow us to call out again. 2.
Kathleen
and Elsa will work on doing a story for the PDN. 3.
Elna
will book the hospital for the next 6 months for the first Thursday of the
month. 4.
Patty
and Judith will check on how the books on the bus campaign went.
What the grant was that Irene got. 5.
Elna
and Kathleen will work on an article for the Sequim Gazette 6.
For
input into the agenda for next time e-mail or call either Elna Kawal
683-3027 ekawal@yahoo.com or Kaltheen Dionne at 457-4845
lkdionne@olypen.com |
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