Kiwanis Club of Dearborn: Brick By Book Literacy Program

Let's get back to Lit Happens with Sid. So as you know, reading is very important. And across the state, a lot of the literacy rates are down but we are talking about something that's pretty cool that's kicking off in Dearborn a brick by book literacy program and now I am joined by Renee. Renee how are you? Good how are you? Good so this is a pretty cool program that your organization kind of partnered with Snow Elementary in Dearborn and the goal is to get second graders reading again which I think is a lot of people focus on third graders like we need to start as young as we can and so tell you know viewers a little bit about this program. So it started in 2012 when I went to a school in southwest Detroit with a group of executive administrative assistants that wanted to support literacy and we couldn't figure out how to do that. So we all got together, reached out to a school in southwest Detroit and said, can we come to you and bring you books to help the children read? And she said, absolutely. So we put together a big reading program. We took it to Wayne State University and we were We were hoping for a hundred children. We had Backpacks, shirts, everything filled for 100 children. It was raining out, and only one bus showed up with 20 kids. But we were ready for 100, but we didn't care. We had so much fun. The children were able. We read stories together. We had crafts going on with them. They got to take home a goodie bag full of school supplies that they didn't normally get to have and books. So after that, the principal came up and said, How can you help us want to have the children want to read and not have to read? Right. I said, well, that's a really pretty important question, because if the children can't have fun reading, they're not going to read. So I went back home and worked with my friends, and I came up with Brick by Book, building a school of readers. So what we did is in that school, we put on each floor a brick, a big brick house that looks like this. And they, and we gave each child a paper brick. Okay. So every time they read a book, they had two paper bricks. One went to the principal's office where we put the bricks in the dump truck. The other one went on the house, thereby building a school of readers. The children's names were called once a week, the principal called two names, they got to come down, pull a goodie out of the dump truck, take their brick, and put it on the house. They were so excited, they had three floors in that school, and by, we started in like late September, by May, every house was filled with books, totally filled, that's how many books the children read. So she said, you know, it worked because we made it fun. We talked to the kids about how important it is to read, get into the book, and become someone else. Take a journey, okay, find a new adventure. And we would come every year with an assembly dressed in construction gear. I called our construction volunteers. We had hats on, we had tool belts, we had vests. We were going to build that school of readers. And every year we sang YMCA. So the fourth year I said let's switch the song up and they're like no book miss book lady we want the YMCA so we did the YMCA and then after COVID hit so we kind of ended the program and now in Dearborn literacy is a very big part of Kiwanis and I thought to myself let me try to bring birth by book back. So I reached out to my club who's very Dearborn Kiwanis very supportive And they said, what do you need? And one spouse of a member said, what do you need, Renee? And I said, I need funds to help me get books. She said, you got it. So she went out and bought over 400 books for the program. Wow. And then her name is Marge. That's all I'm going to say. And then working with Detroit One Kiwanis, they have a warehouse of books that I'm able to get free books from. And working with Making Spirit Bright, I got over 400 books they gave me also. Wow. So, I'm like, okay, now what do we do? We've got to find a school. Cool. And I found a school that was very receptive to us going in, and we had a little assembly. Second graders, you have to talk a little bit slower with them and explain it a few times. So, we went in with our gear, and we worked with Key Club high school kids. So, Edsel Ford is in the area. So, they came over and Stout Middle School, they brought. So I had about 20. By students, they're helping. Connect with the little kids, okay, because they'll connect with the children more than they will with the adults. But. But so we went in, and we took all of our gear, and we all had construction hats, and I had a big house, and we shared the story of how it works. The kids were very excited. We did the YMC with them, and they did it with us. They had fun doing that, so that's still a good thing to do. And the teachers are very, very supportive, and I hadn't even finished talking, and one table had books on, and they all had them open already. They were already excited. They wanted to read. And I said, what are you going to do? And they're like, we'll switch books once they finish theirs. The whole concept is, to me, it's so important that children learn to read, have fun reading, share the stories. And the message also is to take it home and share it with your family. Learn to read with your brothers and your sisters and your parents. Some parents don't read English, don't know how to speak English. So it was important that we got books that the children could be excited about and want to take them home and share them with the family. And a quick story, back years ago when we did this, I was sitting in my dental hygienist and she said, I know you, and I'm like, okay. And she said, you're the book lady. And I'm like, okay. Yes, I was the book lady back at the elementary school. And she said, my son was preparing to go to college. He opened up his drawer and he pulled out a book. And with that, his mom said, what are you doing with that book? He's in the 12th grade getting ready for college. And he said, the book lady gave it to me when he was in third grade. So he kept that book. Yeah. So... So what we hope to... Give out to the children is the love of reading and knowing that they can achieve so many more different things. It's not a chore, it's a love of reading, the adventure, giving the kids confidence, helping the teacher give them that confidence and want to read. And we learned that when we had this program in Southwest Detroit for five years that in the reading literacy increased by 25%. We helped them become better readers, better students. It was just it was it's an amazing program and I have support from my club. Mm-hmm. But I could use some more support. Yeah. And it's awesome that you guys are making it fun as well, because a lot of times a lot of kids don't have the means or the money to buy books or, you know, books in the home. Sometimes parents don't have time to read them because they're busy trying to make ends meet. So it's nice that they have like organizations like yours to be able to step in and say like, hey, we're here to help, you know, to make reading fun and to show the importance of reading, because technically reading is the future. And it's a nice way to kind of escape from everything. If you don't know how to read, where are you going to go from here? And it's more fun to open a book than to, I mean, everybody's on their phone. Yeah, doing scrolling. And that's good. But when you take a real book, you can really get into the book. It's something that you always have with you. You can just pick up and read again. You can always go to the library and find a new book. And every time these children read their book, we give them a new book. So we're constantly giving them books. I mean, anytime, we'll give you a donation of books to make a lending library if that's what the school needs. Right. And that's happened. One of the schools didn't even have a library. And I'm like, how are the kids going to learn to read if you don't have a library? They had no space for it. So we got a rolling cart and we filled it with books. And a teacher, one of the kids would go and go to every classroom and say, take a book. It was free. And that's what they couldn't get over the fact that it was free. One little boy came up to me at that time and said, Do I get to keep this book? And I was surprised. I'm like, well, yeah. He said, for free, it's mine. I can take home. And I'm like, yes, honey. And he said, thank you so much. The principal said those children never had that opportunity before. So that's how important it is to get people to understand the importance of reading with your child, reading with your siblings, your children, with your friends. It's. Make it fun and read with someone else. And so, Renee, before I let you go, tell everyone where they can find you in case they want to, you know, pitch in books or just help with donations. Let everybody know. Well, I'm with the Kiwanis Club of Dearborn. If anyone wanted to make a monetary donation, they could send it to the Kiwanis Club of Dearborn Foundation in the P.O. Box 2411. And that's Dearborn 48123. Our meetings are held on Tuesdays. You can find us on our Facebook page, Kiwanis Club of Dearborn, and you're more than welcome, anyone's welcome to come and join us and see what we do for the community because our ask is that we... Every penny we bring in from fundraising goes back out to the community and it goes to these children. And I want to keep a book with their in every, if I have to give them books every week, I'm happy to do that. Yeah. Well, Renee, thank you for what you're doing in the community and helping these kids learn and for, you know, putting this together and I wish you the best. And of course I'll have you come back, you know, maybe we keep this like a thing where we can keep talking about it. Yeah. And what I would like to do is get it out into more. More communities, more schools. So if anybody's interested in the program, reach out to me. I would love to bring it to your school, your community. It would be a blessing for me if I could do that. Renee, thank you so much. Thank you so much. I appreciate you letting me be here. Of course. And we'll be right back after a quick break.