On March 30, Belmont’s 19th annual Family Literacy Day brought more than 300 guests and volunteers together for an afternoon of reading in the Rose Park community.
The event included interactive stories, reading related games and crafts and the distribution of 500 new books donated by Book’em to children.
The purpose of Family Literacy Day is to foster and celebrate a love for reading in children ranging from pre-K through the 6th-grade. This year, the primary focus of the event was Reading Circles, hosted by various campus groups including the Black Student Alliance, foreign language majors, the Student Athlete Council and numerous fraternities and sororities.
The event was organized by Tim Stewart, Director of Service-Learning, who said he is very grateful for the partnerships of so many community organizations who come together to host Family Literacy Day.
“It was really great to see children and parents who return year after year because they enjoy the event so much and to see so many new faces this year,” said Stewart. “Seeing children’s eyes light up when they see the book table and get to pick out some books to take home with them always reminds me that the many hours of work required to make it happen are worth it!”
Family Literacy Day is designed to serve as a celebration of the year’s activities, giving the children and student participants of the ongoing programs a chance to have fun and reflect on their accomplishments. It also serves as a way of encouraging additional Belmont students, faculty and staff to get involved in literacy efforts in the Nashville community, and it provides a way for Belmont to give back in a small fashion to the community of which it is a part of and from whom it receives so much.
Belmont’s Family Literacy Day is one of many components of the Belmont Volunteers for Literacy program, including ongoing tutoring programs at Carter-Lawrence School, Easley Community Center and English tutoring with adults through the Nashville Audit Literacy Council.
