Eastern Maine pupils dig into donated books

OLD TOWN – When second-grader Megan Daigle arrived at school on Friday she didn’t realize she would be heading home with two new books.

“I just like reading,” said the 7-year-old. “I think it’s cool I got a free book.”

Daigle, who said she reads two chapters each evening, took home two Woody’s Roundup chapter books titled “Bad Bart Was Here” and “Cowboy Christmas,” based on the movie “Toy Story 2.”

The United Way of Eastern Maine received a 12,000-book grant from First Book, a national nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., and started distributing the books Friday. First Group has a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new book.

The United Way kicked off the distribution Friday at the new Old Town Elementary School, where Daigle is a student.

Fifth-grader Rene Dorion, 10, said he loved selecting his books.

“I’ve got a few [books] but I love these,” he said.

In the last two years, First Book has provided nearly 15 million new books to children across the country. Now it’s Maine’s turn.

“There are five books [to choose from],” said Laura Hoovler, Community Impact Associate for the local United Way. “The books are a donation from Disney.”

The United Way will give two books to each third- through sixth-grader in 120 elementary schools across eastern Maine. Students in Hancock, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Waldo and Washington counties will be receiving books.

“One of the things we know from our community assessment is people in these communities really care about children and [are] doing whatever they can to make them successful in life,” said Jeff Wahlstrom, president of United Way of Eastern Maine. “Research shows that children with good reading skills are more successful in school and in life. And we know that in many low-income families in Maine kids don’t have books.”

The River Coalition is working with United Way to distribute the books to all the Union 90 schools in the Old Town area, said director Shawn Yardley, who also sits on the board of directors for the United Way of Eastern Maine.

“I’m going to deliver them wherever they tell me to deliver them,” he said. “We’ll start first thing next week.” Yardley plans to deliver 1,100 books.

All of the schools receiving books also receive Title I funds. To qualify for Title I, more than 40 percent of the students must qualify for the free and reduced lunch program. Officials said most schools in eastern Maine qualify for Title I.

“This is a community of readers and this is a community where reading matters,” Wahlstrom said. “We are delighted to be able to support the work of local teachers, our Literacy Volunteer programs and all of our partners who are working on literacy efforts here in eastern Maine through this book distribution.”

A Maine business is also helping out by delivering the books to area service centers, such as Belfast, Dover-Foxcroft and Calais.

“We’ve been working with Freightliner of Maine,” said Hoovler. “Freightliner has brought the books up from Portland and it’s actually delivering to 11 service centers across eastern Maine. They’ve been doing an amazing amount of work for us on a volunteer basis.”