NEWBERRY — Each month the Newberry Opera House will select a nonprofit or educational entity to showcase on their website, Facebook and e-newsletter.
This nonprofit will be invited to showcase their organization at one of the events during the month and, when appropriate, this event will also be a collection date for donations to the organization. Newberry County First Steps is this month’s nonprofit. First Steps helps young children by offering school readiness services to families.
“I think it is really great, we are always looking for partnerships as a nonprofit. This helps us get the information out into the community, tells the community what we do and how we do things, and what resources we have that they can tap into,” said Patricia Caldwell, executive director Newberry County First Steps.
When First Steps was chosen as the December nonprofit, Caldwell told The Opera House that they could always use books.
“Kids could travel and read books, have someone read to them. This is how they really learn, so we wanted to instill a love of books at a very early age, so it carries through much later on,” she said.
The Opera House will be collecting books until Dec. 17. First Steps works with children 0-5, and Caldwell said that is the reading level age range they are looking to receive. Caldwell added they will accept books for children a little bit older for children who are at an advance reading level.
“We will take just about any book, just make sure it is age appropriate and is in good condition,” she said.
When First Steps receives the donated books, Caldwell plans on donating them to families in the Housing Authority, like Grant Homes.
“Some of these kids may not get the early childhood education training, we want to put books into the hands of these children as well,” Caldwell said. “We are trying to reach out and provide a book display or bookshelf so the kids can come and get books, or exchange books. Pick up two, then bring them back and get two more.”
For this particular book drive, Caldwell is looking to give about two to three books to as many children as she can. However, what she can do will depend on the number of books they receive. Her goal is 200-300 books.
“It is important that they start reading early, so they develop a love of reading and a love of books. That is what we want them to develop. If they do that, you do not have to give them a book to read, they will seek out the book themselves,” Caldwell said.
She added that the book that got her to love reading was “Dick and Jane,” which has stuck with her all these years.
“During the time I came along we really didn’t have access to a lot of books, whatever we had we really treasured it, took care of it, we had very few books in our home,” Caldwell said.