Two local literacy groups will be on the same page Saturday when Kumon Learning Center hosts an open house and book drive to benefit Jean Dean Reading Is Fundamental in Opelika.
Kumon centers worldwide are partnering with their local RIF programs to help provide books to children. In Auburn, Kumon instructor Jean Rummer said it's an ideal partnership.
"It gives (us) an opportunity to really support what we know is important," Rummer said. "If you do not invest in a child's ability to read, they're not going to be as successful in life."
The event is part of a plan that came down from national Kumon and RIF centers. Kumon will host an open house Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. at their location, 1550 Opelika Road, across from Village Mall.
"I think it's going to be good for them because more people will realize they're there," said Cathy Gafford, director of Jean Dean RIF. "Everybody that can needs to work together to try to make literacy a common thing, instead of some people (being) really literate and other people not at all."
The open house will feature learning and craft activities and story time, Rummer said. The Cat in the Hat will also make an appearance.
Rummer said they are urging people to bring in used, but good condition, children's books to donate to Jean Dean RIF for the lending libraries it supports. Everyone who brings at least two books will be entered into a raffle for a Kindle, which will be given away at the end of March, along with other prizes.
"We would like to really have a large support for that," Rummer said. "All of it is to support the book donation."
In addition, for every student who enrolls at Kumon during the month of March, Kumon Learning Centers will donate $10 to RIF programs to purchase new books for at-risk children, an effort that is central to Jean Dean RIF.
"Any time you're a nonprofit you don't have all of what you need at one time, and so you need these pieces to put together to get to what you need," Gafford said.
Jean Dean RIF serves 25,000 children, bringing them each three new books per year. It's a job that's become more difficult since RIF centers lost federal funding a year ago, Gafford said.
"We have done what we had to to cover the kids that we have," Gafford said.
Jean Dean RIF is the largest RIF program in the nation and serves preschoolers and children in every county in Alabama. Gafford started the project with her father about 22 years ago and said it is something she couldn't continue without the help of volunteers.
"I just came one time with a friend and I really liked it, so I kept coming back," said Emily Carter, sophomore in psychology. "I like the friends that I've made here, and I've always liked reading, so giving kids the opportunity to read--it's important."
Rummer said the focus of it all, of course, is literacy.
"It is so important because of the outcome and the effect it has on our society," Rummer said. "We have to have an educated society to be able to do well."
Gafford she hopes people who go to the open house will learn about Jean Dean RIF and develop an interest in the program and the work she and the volunteers do.
"This is the first thing that I've actually been around long enough to see the thing that I've been telling people that was going to happen, happen on the other end," Gafford said.
She has had volunteers who remember receiving books from Jean Dean RIF when they were preschoolers.
"There's so many things you can do to help kids at that age, but if you only do physical things you just have healthier criminals down the road," Gafford said. "You've got to help them develop physically and mentally."
For more information about the Kumon open house, call 334-501-8586. For more information about Jean Dean RIF, call 334-749-5631.
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