Link to Libraries Donates Summer Reading Book to Every Westfield Second-grader

SPRINGFIELD — Thanks to a generous grant from the Beveridge Family Foundation, Link to Libraries helped Westfield second graders prepare for a successful summer vacation by providing every second-grade student at Highland, Southampton Road, Westfield River, Paper Mill, and Munger Hill elementary schools with a free, new book to read over the summer, a baseball hat, and a bookmark.

Each of these qualifying schools participates in Link to Libraries’ Community Book Link and Read Aloud programs. This summer reading initiative kicked off with a short presentation at Highland Elementary School on June 5.

“We are so grateful to the Beveridge Family Foundation for making this initiative possible,” said Laurie Flynn, president and CEO of Link to Libraries. “Our goal is two-pronged. First, we hope to remind students how important it is to continue to read over the summer break to avoid summer learning loss and to remind them that books and reading aren’t just for school. Second, Link to Libraries provides monthly volunteer readers in every third- and fourth-grade classroom at each of these elementary schools, and this is a way for us to introduce ourselves to the students our volunteers will be sharing their love of reading and books with next fall when they return as third-graders.”

The Beveridge Family Foundation grant will also enable Link to Libraries to launch the Read Aloud program at Munger Hill Elementary School this fall by enabling the organization to recruit, train, and provide books to volunteer readers in Munger Hill’s third- and fourth-grade classrooms.