The Milledgeville Walmart donated grant funds to sponsor 25 students at the Early Learning Center to receive an age-specific book every month for the entire school year through the Ferst Readers Program.
The Baldwin County School District and Georgia Department of Education have outlined literacy as a priority with the goal of increasing reading proficiency.
Research indicates that 85% of a child's brain is developed by age three.
Children who are not exposed to language and print-rich environments before entering kindergarten, will start school at least three years behind their peers.
Students supported by the grant will be part of the Ferst Readers Program, which provides access to books and helps create a languagerich environment in the home. Currently, the Baldwin County Ferst Readers Program is providing books to over 250 students at the Early Learning Center through a grant from the Sandra Dunagan Deal Center for Early Literacy and Language.
'Providing children access to books at a young age is critical to their language and literacy development. The Baldwin County Ferst Readers Program helps provide students at the Early Learning Center with their own books on a monthly basis,” said Baldwin County Superintendent Dr. Noris Price.
“This program is offered at no cost to parents, which helps alleviate the financial burden of having to purchase books. We would like to thank Walmart for their generous support.”
The Ferst Readers Program is a 501c3 non-profit organization whose mission is to strengthen communities by providing quality books and literacy resources for children and their families to use during the earliest stages of development. For over 20 years, children enrolled in the program, have received a bookstore- quality, age-specific book, and parent/caregiver resources in the mail every month until their fifth birthday.
To date, the organization has mailed more than eight million books to children in participating areas. The cost is $42 a year per child, and funds are raised in each community through donations from individuals, corporate sponsorships, and foundation grants.
For more information about Ferst Readers of Baldwin County, please contact Michelle Maddox at michelle@ferstreaders. org. To volunteer and contribute to the mission of creating little readers who will become Baldwin’s leaders, scan the QR Code.
If you want to donate to Ferst Readers of Baldwin County, you can mail a check to Ferst Readers, PO Box 1327, Madison, GA 30650 (please put BALDWIN CO on the MEMO line) or go online to www.ferstreaders. org and select Baldwin County from the dropdown menu. All money raised in Baldwin County stays in Baldwin County.
– Contributed