We are excited to announce that we received $1,500 from the Stephanie Miller-Davis Library Summer Reading Grant Program. This is our third year receiving this. With this grant we are planning to host some amazing programs to the community this summer during our summer reading program. We will have 7 different events for the public to attend through the end of May through July.
Per the press release -The Stephanie Miller-Davis Library Summer Reading Grant Program - is now in its fifth year of supporting summer reading programs in small rural communities in partnership with the South Dakota Community Foundation (SDCF) and the South Dakota State Library (SDSL). The program to date has distributed nearly $200,000 to libraries in rural communities across South Dakota.
Stephanie loved books. She started her legacy by donating children's books and bookcases to the school library in her hometown of Murdo, SD. She wanted to provide the children in the community the books she longed to read as a child growing up on the South Dakota prairie.
"My mother would be so excited to see the impact this money is having on so many kid's lives," said Stephanie's daughter Kate Davis. "Access to books was a passion of hers and she would have loved to support the work of so many parents, teachers, librarians, and other community members in towns across South Dakota," added her daughter Anne Franz.
"The South Dakota Community Foundation is proud to partner with the Stephanie Miller-Davis family as they perpetuate their mother's passion and investment in early childhood literacy across South Dakota," said Jeff Veltkamp, SDCF Director of Development. "I think Stephanie would be very proud to see her daughters continuing her investment in children."
The summer reading program will kick off the week of May 20th. We have a fun filled adventure happening. The theme this year is Adventure Begins at the Library. We will have passports for the kids to get stamped from local/area businesses along with our regular reading prizes and craft sessions. We will also continue with movies in the afternoon all summer so if the pool ends up closed for weather or other possibilities you can rely on something going on at the library. Or if the kids just need a break from there. Other activities will be in the mornings. Either events or craft sessions.
We will also be doing a breakout room for tweens/teens this summer. You need to figure out how to get out of the museum. There will be 3 to 4 different times available to sign up.
Sign up for all things will be coming out the first part of May.
Lastly, this summer we are teaming up with the Lincoln Achievements Wendy Sweeter and will be offering a beef-based program with 3rd – 5th/6th graders for six weeks. They don’t need to be in 4-H to do this, but it will provide information on what 4-H is and how they could get involved. The program is completely free. We will start this before school is out so a couple of the sessions they will meet after school and then when school is out, they will meet at 1pm here at the library. We will be posting details and sign up for this very soon.