Read to Me!

This school year is quickly coming to an end and Read to Me! has successfully delivered more than 15,000 books to our 17 elementary schools in Valencia County since last August.

This has been a huge undertaking, one that could not have been accomplished without help from the folks at Read to Me! Albuquerque (primarily led by Dave Orner and Kathy Chilton) and neighbors here in Valencia County.

Read to Me! is supported by a small army of volunteers, who give of their time each Friday morning to sort, clean and organize the packing of the piles of books which have been donated by folks in the Albuquerque area. To all of them we are grateful.

We started our quest for help from Valencia County residents by speaking at a Rotary Club meeting in Los Lunas. At that meeting, Robyn Simms volunteered the services of Johnny Cappelli and Sarah Chavez from the district attorney’s office in Belen. Johnny became our No. 1 pick-up man on Friday mornings.

For the entire first semester, he brought books down every Friday morning and managed, with organizational help from Sarah, to get those books to one or two of the schools in our area. Job requirements kept Johnny and Sarah from being as involved with us second semester, and we have missed them terribly.

We posted a letter explaining the Read to Me! Project in the Valencia County News-Bulletin shortly after we began. Rachel Bate responded with a phone call almost immediately. She wanted to be included in our local program.

At that time, we didn’t realize that Rachel is a talented author who had written four children’s books. She just recently completed book number five. Rachel now goes to schools in Belen and Los Lunas to read to the children whenever her services are requested, and she has taken on the responsibility of delivering books to Ann Parish Elementary, Desert View Elementary and Tomé Elementary. She has become a dear friend.

Invitations to present our program came from both the Pilot Club in Belen and the one in Los Lunas. In conjunction with the Los Lunas club, we put out eight collection boxes around the county for use in collecting Spanish and bilingual books for children. Two boxes went to Bosque Farms (Community Center and Sopa’s), four were placed in Los Lunas (Flyer Press, Rutilio’s, UNM Workforce Training Center and Los Lunas Village Hall), one at the UNM-Valencia campus, one at the News-Bulletin office in Belen, and one at the Rio Communities City Hall. Thanks to Yanelli Madrid and all who helped for assistance with that project.

Rather than having a collection box, the Moose Lodge in Belen chose to give us a donation of $500 to use in ordering Spanish books for our non-English speaking and limited English-speaking students. With that money, we were able to purchase more than 130 books.

Throughout these past months, we’ve been supported by some folks very special to us: Jo Anna Salsberry at Caliente Designs in Bosque Farms has donated all of our printed needs. Bill and Fran Gregory brought books to the schools in Bosque Farms and Peralta. Michael Vogerl took time to help us get books to Sundance Elementary. Dr. Marty Moore assisted in getting readers involved at La Merced Elementary for Read Across America Day. Thanks to Jo’l Moore for all of her support. She was overwhelmingly enthusiastic when I asked her if the Belen Art League could help decorate receptacles for the books at the schools.

Also, Clara Garcia, editor of the Valencia County News-Bulletin, has been instrumental in getting our information out to you, the readers, throughout this project.

We’re grateful to our principals, teachers and district personnel (Cyndi Shawver, Kathy House, Jamie Brown and Jamie Romero) in both the Belen and Los Lunas school districts for helping us get these 15,000 books into the hands of our kiddos. We also certainly appreciate the support of both Lawrence Sanchez, superintendent of the Belen Consolidated Schools, and Dr. Ryan Kettler, superintendent of the Los Lunas Schools, for allowing us to do our part to help improve the reading skills of our young students.

There is a proverb that says, “It takes a village to raise a child!” It expresses the idea that a child’s upbringing is a collective responsibility of the community. Valencia County is our community, so helping these children is our responsibility. Thanks to all of you for caring!