The Maud Public Library is doing their part to keep education and community involvement On Friday they kicked off the summer with the start of their summer reading program.
“The summer reading program is something that public libraries all across the United States do to help prevent the summer slide. Kids get out of school for the summer, they sleep until noon, they watch tv and they lose all that progress they have gained. So this encourages them to read throughout the summer,” said librarian Savannah Monroe. “They will be provided with snacks and activities and all the books they can stand.”
The program will meet every Friday through the month of June at the Friends of the Library annex building. Area kids from ages 3- to 17-yearsold are welcome to attend.
“It’s a good motivator to keep kids reading. And it gets them out of the house, too. A lot of parents work and the kids stay at home,” Monroe said. “Maud is very secluded and what you have within walking distance is what you get.”
The morning starts with the younger children meeting, then the teens meet in the afternoon. Both groups make age appropriate crafts during their time slot and get snacks. The library is also holding a community- wide reading contest where junior, teen and adult readers will compete for prizes for the top readers in each category.
“The Friends of the Library got a grant through the Save the Children Foundation to initiate community- wide reading challenges. This is for little kids, medium kids, big kids, young adults and adults,” Monroe added.“It’s not required. They can participate in the reading challenge if they want to, but there are a lot of goodies. And we do rather large grand prizes.”
This is the second year for the summer reading program. The first year, Monroe said they had a learning curve because the participation was greater than anticipated.
“We ran out of snacks, so we had to send people to the store to get more,” she said. We were so overwhelmed. It was huge. It was great, it was fun, but we were swamped. We’ve learned a few things since then.”
A recent addition to the youth programs at the library is also the Teen Club. Teens from 12 to 17 years of age. In Teen Club, the youth learn about parliamentary procedure to run their meetings, volunteer in the community and other community programs.
The Teen Club started after the Maud Boy Scouts of America troop dissolved.
“We had a group of kids who were all gung-ho to do stuff with nothing to do,” Monroe said. “Many of these kids’ parents work, they’re not into sports. They’re left with nothing to do and they want to do something.”
As an added bonus for the teens, the library got grants to purchase an X-box and a graphics design tablet to draw and create visual art.
For children with sensory issues, the library hosts a weekly sensory story time.
The Friends of the Library also host events designed to drive adult participation.
Weekly tai chi and chair yoga classes are taught. They also have monthly adult book club meetings and bingo nights.
“Bingo got started because we had a lot of older people in the community who were still very secluded after the pandemic and still very nervous about getting out,” Monroe said. “This was a social activity that they could do and they felt comfortable getting out and doing. And it just evolved … We completely underestimated how much adults love bingo.”
And for those families who like to game together, they host a monthly family game night.
The Friends held their first dance, a 50s sock hop, in May. They plan to continue the trend monthly with a Dancing Through the Decades theme, said Sarah Miller, Friends secretary.
The library will also be hosting three computer help classes in the month of June. Monroe said they would love to hold additional classes in subjects like language and culture if they can find volunteer speakers.
The public library and Friends of the Library are both not-for-profit entities that are completely funded through donations and grants.
Anyone who wants to donate or volunteer can reach Monroe at 903-5852121. Event schedules can be found on Facebook at the Maud Public Library or the Friends of the Maud Public Library pages.
