Lakewood Ranch Rotary needs volunteers to expand Books for Kids

Rudy Keezer, the principal of Ballard Elementary School, used to see his kindergarten through third-grade students trading Pokémon cards during their free time. 

Now students are trading books they’ve received through the Rotary Club of Lakewood Ranch’s Books for Kids program. 

Keezer said some students carry around each of the books they receive once a month in their backpacks, weighing them down, because they love the books. 

“Those zippers wear out on the backpacks because of the weight of that backpack,” Keezer said to a group of about 100 people at the Books for Kids luncheon Feb. 15.

Photo by Liz Ramos

Books for Kids, a literacy program through the Rotary Club of Lakewood Ranch, has distributed more than 150,000 books since its inception nine years ago. 

The Books for Kids program sends volunteers into the classroom once per month to read and distribute books to students. The program is in 10 schools throughout Manatee County and impacts more than 4,000 children every year. 

Ted Lindenberg, the director of the Books for Kids program, said he’s grateful for the dedication of the 151 volunteers involved in the three Books for Kids programs, but he would love to see more people involved so the program can expand to more classes and schools. 

He said the impact on students has been tremendous and evident by the joy students have when they see the volunteers come to the school and how engaged they are with the program. 

Samara Hemingway Primous, the principal of Samoset Elementary School, said the Books for Kids program has helped to spark a joy for reading in her students. 

She said even the shyest students at the beginning of the school year are thriving and engaged in the lessons from the Books for Kids volunteers.

A student in the Books for Kids monthly program receives at least seven books per year, which gives them an opportunity to build their at-home libraries. 

Keezer, Hemingway Primous and Michael Escorcia, the principal of Rogers Bullock Elementary, all said with many of the families at their schools not being able to afford books, the at-home libraries are crucial to encouraging students to read.

The principals also said the relationships students develop with the volunteers are vital to ensure the students feel confident in their reading. 

“With Samoset being a community school, we totally appreciate all of the volunteers we have,” Hemingway Primous said. “The children appreciate that not only the staff at Samoset has an impact on them and their education but also the community as well.”

Keezer equated the volunteers to being a crucial leg of a three-legged stool. 

“If you’ve ever sat on a three-legged stool, you’ll find that it’s not that hard, but take a leg away and it becomes very, very difficult,” he said. “Sometimes the three legs are made up of the student, the educator and hopefully, the parents at home or at least some support person that that student can feel joy and feel pride with, and the (Books for Kids) readers are that for many of our kindergarten students.”

Photo by Jay Heater

Since the Books for Kids program began at Ballard Elementary nine years ago, Keezer said the reading scores for third graders have improved. He said this year, about 40% of his third graders are projected to be reading on grade level by the end of the year. 

Keezer said 40% might seem like a low number, but it’s an increase from past years when 20% of third graders were reading on grade level. He said more students are close to reading on grade level. 

After seeing the success of the Books for Kids Kindergarten program with one class at Ballard Elementary last school year, Keezer wanted to see it expanded to all of his kindergarten classes. 

The Books for Kids Kindergarten program brings volunteers into Ballard, Oneco and Daughtrey elementary schools once per week to read and work with kindergartners one-on-one. 

The program was able to expand to all kindergarten classes at Ballard Elementary this school year. 

Lindenberg hopes to continue expanding the kindergarten program, but without more volunteers, principals at the schools will have to wait to involve more classes. 

Lindenberg said the Rotary Club of Lakewood Ranch would need about 300 community volunteers to be able to expand to all kindergarten classes at Ballard, Oneco and Daughtrey elementary schools. The program currently has about 75 volunteers.