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Clay County Public Library System will deliver 500+ donated books to babies, families at local hospital
These book donations are part of the Baby Bookworms program to promote early childhood reading.
FLEMING ISLAND, Fla. -- Clay County Public Library System is working with community partners to distribute more than 500 books to families at Baptist Medical Center Clay’s Labor & Delivery Unit.
It's all part of the Baby Bookworms program, which aims to encourage early childhood reading in infants, toddlers, and their caregivers by providing them with a children's book.
According to the Department of Education, the more children read and are read to, the greater their vocabulary development, reading comprehension, and overall academic success will be.
Baptist Medical Center Clay will receive a total of 507 books, and each book will be delivered inside a goodie bag. Families will receive a copy of Goodnight Moon, a children's bedtime story written by Margaret Wise Brown. Each goodie bag our library staff has put together for families also contains a bib, a bookmark, a library card holder, and brochures with information on activities that families can do at the library.
We tagged along as our library staff dropped off the first batch of 50 books at Baptist Medical Center Clay’s Labor & Delivery Unit:
The Baby Bookworms program is made possible thanks to our community partner, Carlton Foundation for Kids, Inc., who generously donated the books.
The additional contents of the bags were funded by an Innovation Grant from NEFLIN (Northeast Florida Library Information Network).
From left to right:
Kip Deckerhoff, VP, Patient Care Services, Baptist Medical Center Clay
Dawn Osterling, Director, Women’s Services, Baptist Medical Center Clay
Mary Canfield, Director, Clay County Public Library System
Brandy Black, Project Manager, Clay County Public Library System
Jacquelin Carlton, Director, Carlton Foundation for Kids, Inc.
Mia Torres, Certified Nursing Assistant NICU, Baptist Medical Center Clay
Ed Hubel, Hospital President, Baptist Medical Center Clay
If anyone would like to donate funds for the Baby Bookworms program, they can contact the Clay County Sponsorship Coordinator, George Biastre at George.Biastre@claycountygov.com.
Parents are also welcome to visit one of our five local Clay County libraries to check out a copy of Goodnight Moon with their library card.