Kewaunee County’s Bookworms program provides books to students in need

KEWAUNEE COUNTY – The Wisconsin Bookworms is a program supported by the Kewaunee County Extension UW-Madison and sponsored by the Wisconsin Association for Home and Community Education (WAHCE) which serves to provide books to low-income children.

This year, the program is celebrating the one million books given to 110,000 children since the program was started in 1998.

Kewaunee County Bookworms Co-Chair Janice Gilbertson has been leading the local program for more than 20 years. She started the Kewaunee chapter with Barb Hartjes in 2000. Hartjes has since passed away, but Gilbertson continues to champion the program and connect with preschoolers who may not otherwise have books of their own. Retired librarian Linda Vogel became co-chair shortly after Hartjes passed and the Kewaunee program continues to thrive.

Gilbertson said the work for the program, especially grant writing, is continuous, but sharing the chair position has helped keep it manageable.
“You just got to keep doing it,” she said. “You can’t fall asleep.”

The Bookworms program initially focused on Title One schools, which serve low-income students, but since Kewaunee County lacks a Title One program, Gilbertson said the group started reading in Algoma, which had a higher percentage of low-income families. Over time, the program expanded to Kewaunee due to a decline in the number of low-income children in Algoma and an increase in Kewaunee. Due to a limited number of volunteer readers, the Bookworms have been unable to continue reading to both schools. However, Gilbertson said any leftover books are still donated to schools outside of Kewaunee.

“We always have to guess how many books, because the teacher will say, ‘Well, there’s this many enrolled.’ So then you always add a few, because you never know, or sometimes they give a higher figure, and then there’s less. So then as we accumulate extra books, we’ll take them to other schools,” Gilbertson said.

Those interested in volunteering to read go through a background check and brief training process before bringing one of the books the statewide program has approved to 4K classrooms, where they read to the children and help them complete an activity sheet related to the book. Each participating student receives a bag of eight books, including the one read to them in the classroom, which they can take home to build their own library.

Gilbertson and other adults, including readers for the program and members of the local HCE, host fundraisers each year to pay for the roughly 500 books distributed annually. Fundraising activities include an annual salad supper and a bakeless bake sale. The program also receives support from local businesses and clubs, which has been crucial for its sustainability.

Gilbertson said the impact the program has on the children cannot be overstated, with students she had read to when they were in preschool recognizing her today.

“You can see kids 10 years later and they’ll say, ‘There’s the bookworm lady!’ It’s so much fun,” she said.

The Wisconsin Bookworms program has expanded over the years to include more schools and has received donations from local and out-of-state supporters. Gilbertson said the Kewaunee program even receives donations from a woman in California who is familiar with some of the county residents.
Gilbertson said most readers are older adults who find the program just as valuable as the kids do.

“It’s very rewarding for the readers, probably just as much as for the kids. Almost all our readers are retired people, and the intergenerational connection is good,” she said.

The program offers an opportunity for volunteers to connect not only with the children, but with each other.

“When we read at Algoma, their schedule was you read to two classes, and then it was noontime, and then right after lunch, you had to come back for another two classes. So we’d always go to Cafe Plaza for lunch. Oh, it was fun,” Gilbertson said. “So we made it an event. And now, because we read kind of early in Kewanee, when we’re through we go to the bakery. So it’s a little social for the ladies.”

The program is always seeking readers. For more information or to volunteer, visit www.wahceinc.org/wisconsin-bookworms.