Tuesday’s editorial is a slightly
bizarre mashup of topics, on one hand talking about civility in leadership and
the other the overdue possibility of a new library in Myrtle Beach:
How much have relations between Myrtle Beach and Horry County
officials warmed in recent years?
County Councilman
Marion Foxworth’s
offhand remark at last week’s meeting about Chapin Memorial Library was a good
indication:
Reading = good. That just about sums up Tuesday’s
editorial:
Being in the business of writing and
publishing, we’re just a bit biased when it comes to literacy. Reading is a good thing. Well, more than
that, actually. It’s a life necessity.
So when we heard about Conway’s upcoming
RiverRead festival, we were more than a little bit excited. What better to
celebrate than the joy of reading? And especially during National Library Week.
Wednesday’s good works editorial
profiles the amazing and praise-worthy efforts of Tracy Bailey and the good
volunteers at Freedom Readers:
A love of children and a love of
reading are the most important attributes for volunteer tutors in the Freedom
Readers Inc. programs in Conway, Georgetown and Myrtle
Beach.
Tracy Bailey, executive director of
the nonprofit, adds that love of children includes an understanding that “they
are rambunctious, they are energetic – and wonderful.” The point is, successful
tutors “can put the needs of the child first.” Freedom Readers spring sessions
began this week in two Conway locations, the
Boys & Girls Club in Myrtle Beach and in Georgetown.
Wednesday’s editorial highlights a
great program that pairs at-risk students with mentors from a local church, a
model that more churches in the area might want to consider:
Parishioners of St. Stephen’s
Episcopal Church in North Myrtle Beach are in their third year of mentoring
at-risk children at Loris
Elementary School
spending an hour every week talking with children one-on-one and helping them
with basic academic skills.
Connie S. Lawson, director of the
Kids Hope program at St. Stephen’s, says “I’m just delighted” that the 40
mentors this school year all were in the program last year. Lawson finds it
significant that “even when people have to step back – it’s been for health
reasons – no one has said, ‘it’s not my cup of tea.’” The few who have stopped
weekly mentoring all continue as substitutes or prayer partners. The latter are
behind the scenes, maintaining the constitutionally required separation of
church and state.
Everybody should be able to enjoy the
wonderful world of reading, and some good folks in the area are working hard to
make sure that more can, as Thursday’s editorial explains:
Some of us will be lucky enough to
celebrate the American Library Association’s banned book week late this month,
savoring the literature often unfairly demonized for one reason or another. We’ll
reminisce about rafting down the river with Huck Finn, relive the Dresden bombing in “Slaughterhouse-Five”
and be moved once more as Atticus Finch masterfully defends Tom Robinson in “To
Kill a Mockingbird.”
But for a quarter or so of the folks
in Horry County, books such as these are always
banned. Not because the books aren’t available. But because 25 to 30 percent of
the Horry County population remains functionally
illiterate. They read at or below a fifth-grade level. As Pat Bush, director of
the Horry County Literacy Council, put it, these unfortunate folks “can’t do
basic things that we take for granted.”
Wednesday’s editorial praises the good work of Miss Ruby’s Kids and celebrates the grant that will help them expand their offerings down in Georgetown County:
In good news for local education and for the future, Miss Ruby’s Kids, the nonprofit early childhood literacy program in Georgetown County, will increase to 60 the number of young children in its core Parent-Child Home Program with the help of a $10,000 grant from the TD Charitable Foundation.
Betsy Marlow, executive director of the nonprofit, says the grant will help pay for books and learning toys which are such an important part of the Parent-Child Home Program. An example of the quality books is “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” by famed illustrator Eric Carle and Bill Martin Jr. The books and toys become gifts to the family. Exposure to good books at early ages is a major key to success in school.
Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day, part of National Poetry Month. The idea is pretty straightforward: Carry a poem in your pocket in order to share it with friends, co-workers and others you meet throughout the day. Spread a little extra beauty in the world.
Below is the poem printed in Thursday’s edition, by former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins. But we also want to know. Who are your favorite poets, what are your favorite poems? Leave a comment and fill us in. Share the poem in your pocket with all of us today.
Literacy should be everyone’s concern, and a relatively new coalition, Literacy Alive, is reaching out for support in increasing awareness and engaging all segments of the community.
Sam Cook, director of programs for Waccamaw Community Foundation, says a meeting today in Myrtle Beach includes the goal of showing how Literacy Alive, a foundation initiative, can be part of the workplace. The meeting (1 p.m. at the art museum) is open to all and especially leaders in the business, professional and nonprofit segments. They will see how employees can become volunteers for one of the literacy providers, make other in-kind donations or adopt a school or children in a class or child-care center.
Today marks the 200th birthday of the incomparable Charles Dickens.
The acclaimed English novelist brought a host of memorable characters into our lives, including Madame Defarge, Pip, Ebenezer Scrooge and David Copperfield. He eventually turned out 20 novels as well as a variety of short stories, plays, poetry and essays before he died in 1870.
Made a pledge to the United Way at work yet this year? Wednesday’s editorial urges you to consider it.
Six weeks into the United Way of Horry County 2011-12 fundraising campaign, the annual effort appears on track to raise $1,275,000 for 45 community partners. The campaign has raised $680,913 in contributions and pledges. That’s 53 percent of the goal, compared to 56 percent of goal raised at this point a year ago.
“It’s not bad at all,” says marketing and communications coordinator Julie Kopnicky, explaining that the difference “is the result of several big accounts moving their drives to November, from earlier dates. We still have several companies that haven’t kicked off their drives – or just started.”
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