In traffic today, about a week after Beverly Bradley from Cops and Kids spoke to our club, I noticed a bumper sticker that read “BOOKS CHANGE LIVES”.  

If I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to hear Beverly speak last week about how over a million books have impacted children in our region, that simple message may not have resonated so deeply with me. 

If I haven’t been thinking more about Rotary’s area of focus - basic education and literacy - I might not have noticed the sticker as quickly. 

If I had never witnessed first hand how important it is to child for a grown up take time to share a book with them, I wouldn’t have believed it to be so true. 

I want to tell you about the day I understood what it meant to be a Rotarian. 

I had the opportunity to volunteer at our summer “feed and read” program a few years ago. We gave out brown bag lunches and books at Jefferson Elementary. We had a big cart of books for kids to take home and keep. A boy around the age of 9/10 had zero interest in the books. I invited him to come take a look at the books with me. He was hesitant and said he wasn’t very good at reading. I said one way to get better at something is to practice and that we could practice now if he wanted. He picked out an 1960’s, wilderness adventure type, chapter book for young readers. The hand drawn cover of a boy and dogsled team caught his eye. It was about a boy looking for gold in the mountains. He lit up.  

We took turns reading pages. He struggled but didn’t give up. We got through challenging words together. He saw that I messed up reading out loud too, and didn’t feel so bad about making mistakes himself. Before we knew it, time was up.  I asked him if he would continue reading at home. He said that he would and that he’d tell me more about the book when I saw him again. 

I left feeling that I had really connected him and that maybe he really would read that book.  I didn’t have the opportunity to see this boy again but I’d like to think for one day I made a difference. 

Beverly shared how the kindness of others made a difference to her as a child growing up with very little means. Her Mother and educators helped her to understand that while she didn’t have money, she had her mind, and that could take her anywhere.  Now her life’s work is to encourage young children to read and tap their minds to unlock potential. 

For all of you who listened to our program last week, I imagine you left feeling a true sense of why community service is so important. Perhaps you reflected on how a small gesture of kindness can mean the world to someone else.  Sometimes those gestures can be a pivot point in another person’s life. 
 

To learn more about Beverly and Cops and Kids Click Read More…