SMILES were beaming on the faces of dozens of kindergarten children at the Mount Gambier Library when they received a selection of free books donated by the Rotary Club of Mount Gambier.
Free books were provided to children from Acacia Kindergarten last week thanks to a partnership formed between the not for profit organisation Books in Homes, Department of Education and Child Development, Mount Gambier Library and the Rotary Club of Mount Gambier.
The books were given out at a final ceremony at the library, which was held to acknowledge and thank the Rotary Club of Mount Gambier for its contribution to local literacy and early childhood development.
Mount Gambier Rotary Club volunteer Julian Mattay has been a strong supporter of the initiative and said it gave him a great buzz to hand out the books to the children.
“I am pretty passionate about books, I have been reading them for as long as I can remember and it is very moving to see the pleasure in the kids eyes when they receive a book,” Mr Mattay said.
“Parents reading to their kids is a great bonding procedure and I hope this event inspires that.”
Mount Gambier Library children services coordinator Kelly Lynch said the initiative reiterated the importance of reading to the community.
“The fact the children got to pick and keep the book, it creates more meaning as they can read it over and over again because it is their book,” Ms Lynch said.
Ms Lynch said the contribution from the Rotary Club of Mount Gambier and Mr Mattay in particular was inspiring.
“Mr Mattay has supported this for three years and he told me this year funding was tight, so he put personal money towards it,” Ms Lynch said.
“Working with him and the Rotary club has been so easy because they are just so passionate about it.”
Ms Lynch said they were excited to continue the initiative in another community next year, but will require support.
“It would be great to keep it going, I would be sad to see it go because it has been so successful,” Ms Lynch said.
“Books are the backbone of learning and if the community keeps supporting the Rotary Club of Mount Gambier we will be able to continue this initiative.”
