On the Road with Outreach

Submitted by Kandy de Martin

During February and March the Outreach Team had new opportunities to collaborate with institutions that are actively serving the Forsyth County community.   

We took the bookmobile to the Head Start program, a free education program for eligible children from birth to age 5 most of them of Latino descent. It was a beautiful experience from start to finish.

When we arrived at Head Start many of the children were on the playground and immediately ran to the fence to see the bookmobile. We felt like celebrities! I couldn’t resist the urge and asked Lorraine to honk the horn. That is always fun!

They entered the bookmobile in small groups and seeing their expressions and excitement was just priceless. One little girl asked if she should sit down, she thought we were going to take them somewhere. When asked where she wanted to go she said, “To Publix to get vanilla ice cream.”  How cute! I gave them a tour of the bookmobile and read a short bilingual book. 

We had 7 classes, a total of 93 children.

We also took Loanie to St. Brendan's the Navigator Catholic Church. They have an amazing aftercare program in which they provide a full meal and free tutoring to an average of 20 children who are academically underperforming students in elementary and middle school. 

The tutors were very interested in the children having access to classical literature and we were happy to help them with their goal. They are motivating the children to read with special prizes.

The Outreach Team will continue to visit both of these schools on a monthly basis. 

What a privilege to be part of a team that represents FCPL and serves the community with passion and enthusiasm!