Submitted photo Dr. Mary Boyd, president of Read Aloud of Randolph County, displays one of the books provided to students in backpacks through the program.
ELKINS — Since 2018, the Read Aloud program has provided qualifying students in Randolph County with brand new books that are inserted into backpacks once a month during the school year.
The backpacks and books are for children who qualify for the food program at their respective schools. The Read Aloud program runs out of the First United Methodist Church in Elkins.
“We started this program back in 2018 when I went to a Read Aloud West Virginia Conference where many ideas were shared,” said Dr. Mary Boyd, president of Read Aloud of Randolph County. “Jackson County had a very active Read Aloud program and they had been putting books in backpacks. I brought the idea back to our board, and it seemed to resonate. We then started looking for possible funding sources.”
Read Aloud is part of the First United Methodist Church food program that also sends qualifying students home with backpacks containing food every Friday during the school year.
“Some of the teachers were noticing that some of the kids didn’t have enough food on the weekends,” Boyd said. “So we started giving the kids a backpack full of food to keep them over the weekend. A lot of the churches in the area have kicked in to make sure we have enough food each week for the kids.”
Read Aloud not only gives children books of their choosing each month, but the organization also sends out one of its volunteers to eight different elementary schools once a week throughout the school year to read to students.
“With lots of help from Read Aloud West Virginia, we received grants from both the Tucker Community Foundation and the Snowshoe Foundation to get us started,” Boyd said. “The state people thought getting grants locally was a good idea, and it worked. The money helped us get brand new books with nameplates, so the students can take ownership of the books. Also, the students get to choose the books, so they can get what they are interested in.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Read Aloud program was put on hold. The food program at the church, however, started back up in late 2021 and the students began receiving their books again in February. Read Aloud West Virginia provided the books to the program this past year due to the county program not applying for grants during the coronavirus shutdown, officials said.
Jennings Randolph, Midland, North, Coalton, George Ward and Third Ward elementary schools, Elkins Middle School, Elkins High School, Tygarts Valley Middle/High School and Harman School participate in the program.
“We hope we can continue with this wonderful program,” Boyd said. “We love putting books into the hands of kids and ideas into their heads.”
Read Aloud currently operates in 36 counties with 29 local volunteer chapters. The state Read Aloud office is located in Charleston, and is under the direction of executive director Dawn Miller. The state program gave out 26,800 books in 2021 and is on track to distribute more than 100,000 this year, officials said.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer reader or want to learn more about Read Aloud Randolph County, contact Boyd at 304-636-4359.
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