No matter if a person is nine or 99, reading is a fun and relaxing pastime.
That is why 20 residents of Epworth Manor participated in Read Across America from March 1 through March 31. The program originated in elementary schools where children read books for one week in March in honor of Dr. Seuss.
Ann Clark, Epworth Manor volunteer and coordinator for the Manor’s Read Across America program, expanded the idea on her own and had the residents who participated in the program read for the entire month of March.
The idea for this year’s program was that each participating resident was assigned a region on a giant map of the United States. A stick pin was placed in each state for each book read by the resident. By the end of the month, the goal was that every state would be “traveled” with a stick pin.
“We have completed the map. Each stick pin in the states represents that those states have been traveled throughout the month of March for Read Across America,” said Clark. “You will be able to see that there’s not one state that somebody in the reading group did not travel.”
This is the fourth year the program has existed at Epworth Manor, and Clark hopes it will continue in future years as well. A bulletin board with the United States map was displayed in the Epworth Manor Library as well as the colorful maps of each resident participating in the event.
“We’re going to give them a certificate and an angel pin. We always give them some little thing,” said Clark.
She is also planning a video thanks to the women of the Epworth Manor Auxiliary to thank them for all the funding and support they have given the library since it started. Some of the residents who participated in Read Across America will appear on the video thanks to the Auxiliary, and the video is scheduled to be shown at the annual Auxiliary meeting on April 12.
Clark said the busiest time for the library is in the fall and winter. At least 35 of the residents are reading at all times, and the volunteers and staff are also allowed to sign books out of the library. Since the summer weather is coming soon, she doesn’t need to plan as many events like Read Across America because the residents have other activities scheduled and more family members come to visit.
Clark volunteers many hours to the Manor and to the library there. She plans on taking a much needed break over some of the summer, but she will be ready to go with fresh ideas in the fall for the residents of Epworth Manor.
