“A child is not a vessel to be filled, but a lamp to be lit” is written on the cover of all planning books at the Community Action Organization (CAO) of Erie County and is the guiding philosophy of this organization. Since 1965, the CAO has been a valuable community resource providing a host of services to develop children and their familiesin more than 50 locations throughout Erie County in Buffalo, NY.

For 6 of those ten years the CAO has partnered with RIF, and coordinator Dawn Thompson has worked enthusiastically to ignite her student’s love of reading by making their RIF book distributions memorable and engaging. She collaborates with teachers to develop motivational activities for each classroom based on the children’s interests as well as the topics they are studying in class. One such activity is the Racetrack Rally, which has each child crawl through a tunnel, ride a bicycle, walk across a beam, crawl through another tunnel, forward roll and then shoot a basketball. The prize after completing this obstacle course is the opportunity to select a book to take home. Thompson and her team’s innovation don’t stop there; they also host ice cream socials, pajama parties, community reader’s day and a myriad other amusements linked to the promotion of literacy. Thompson’s creativity and commitment to RIF are also displayed in the RIF Resources and Ideas guidebook that she wrote to assist staff at their various sites.

Reading for a fun and a worthwhile cause, Dawn’s program also participated in Jumpstart’s Read for the Record campaign, which encourages adults and teens nationwide to read with children. This year’s featured book was Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. This is just one example of how she seeks to integrate parents, who are often involved by helping out at distributions, shadowing their children or hosting one of themed stations where the kids can choose books.

The CAO’s RIF program currently serves over 1900 children, whom Thompson says would more than likely not otherwise have access to brand new books, with Buffalo having the 6^th highest child poverty rate in the nation.

“Children’s eyes are like saucers as they search for the perfect book. Language and literacy abound!” Thompson says. “RIF brings an excitement to the classrooms, a happy buzz, a sense of magic that children and families recall long after the event when they are sitting at home quietly reading a book together.”

Happy reading!
RIF Programs Unit I