Stanislaus County opens ‘books for keeps’ library in lobby of Hackett Road facility
Two-year-old Aiden Jones from Turlock wasn’t interested in the county leaders’ speeches at The Book Club Opening Day on Wednesday.
Instead, he was enthralled with all the books in the new children’s library in the lobby of the Stanislaus County Community Services Agency on Hackett Road.
The goal of the library is to put a book in the hands of every child who visits county facilities. Parents and caregivers can read the books to their children while waiting for an appointment, and then they may take the books home.
For the opening day party, the lobby was decorated in “Cat in the Hat” red and white stripes and other Dr. Seuss characters, paying homage to the March 2 birthday of the beloved, late children’s author.
Toddlers were running around and playing with the books, stopping only for story time or to have some fruit.
Stanislaus County Chief Executive Officer Jody Hayes led the event, which included readings by county leaders, healthy snacks and raffle prizes.
Aiden, the unofficial emcee of the morning, tried to take Seuss’ book “There’s a Wocket in My Pocket” from Sheriff Jeff Dirkse’s hands as he was reading it to the crowd of about 50.
“He loves books and that’s one of his favorites,” said Jasmine Jones, Aiden’s mother, who was visiting the county HSA for help with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.
Dirkse shared his personal story about being late in learning to read.
“When I was in second grade, I couldn’t read at all, but my second grade teacher focused on me,” said Dirkse. “By the end (of the year), I could read and I’ve been a huge reader ever since.”
He said, “Kids have to be able to read for any kind of success.”
Hayes was the creative force behind the lobby library because he wanted to help improve literacy for county kids.
He said this endeavor had personal connections for him. Growing up with a single mother, he spent plenty of time in the lobby of the county office because his family relied on their support.
“I am a product of your CalFRESH programs, CalWORKS, all of those programs,” said Hayes. “Maybe one of these kids is a future county CEO.”
Pointing to Aiden and smiling, Hayes said, “ I think it’s this one right here.” Then, as if on cue, the little boy clapped and gave Hayes a high five.
Evolution of The Book Club
“I was inspired after seeing the data that were coming through Cradle to Career, recognizing that three out of four children in third grade are not ready to read at grade level,” said Hayes.
Cradle to Career is a countywide initiative working to improve the health, education, career and overall well-being for all kids in the county.
Poverty, lack of access to books and limited parental literacy are among many factors that contribute to low literacy among children. These factors are also common for needing assistance from safety net programs, such as SNAP and CalWORKS.
Angelica Caballero of Modesto learned about the event when she arrived at the facility to visit the Women, Infants and Children office.
She hasn’t been reading much to her 2-year-old Victoria Bravo, but said, “Today, I learned that I should try to do it more.”
In Stanislaus County, only 32% of third graders are reading at or above grade level. Reading proficiency at this time point is a strong predictor of future success in school and entering the workforce.
Hayes said that several months ago, he gave a challenge to the department heads in the Hackett building to tackle low literacy among county children.
With that challenge, county employees at the facility donated more than 1,000 books on their own.
The Stanislaus County Library and Friends of the Library are partners in the endeavor and they collected, sorted and donated more than 1,400 new and gently used books.
The county library also operates a pop-up library twice a week in the WIC office in the Hackett building and will continue to help with the lobby library.
“We need 1,000 books per week,” said Sharrie Sprouse, health promotion coordinator at HSA and one of the leaders of the employee book drive.
County services agency out-stations will also have lobby libraries in place.
Sprouse said they are set for books for a while but gladly welcome donations of new and gently used books.
“I just wanted to get grassroots about it and polled our department heads,” said Hayes. “What can we do today to put books in kids’ hands, and this is what they did. I couldn’t be happier.”
This story was produced with financial support from The Stanislaus County Office of Education and the Stanislaus Community Foundation, along with the GroundTruth Project’s Report for America initiative. The Modesto Bee maintains full editorial control of this work.
This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
