Thirty years ago, two Longmont teachers noticed that their kindergarteners and first graders did better learning if their parents were reading to them at home.
So, Connie Elliott and Gwen Sieckmann got some funding and decided to start giving a book to every newborn baby in Longmont. Called Born to Read, the program continues today with children’s books available in both English and Spanish for every baby born in the city.
Co-executive directors Dede Alspaugh and Marian Parsons have been working with the program for about 20 years. Born to Read gives out between 1,000 and 1,500 book bags a year depending on how many children are born.
Parsons said the number of books going out during the pandemic dropped dramatically, but Born to Read was still able to fill their bags and get books out — even if that meant assembling the bags on Alspaugh’s front porch with masks on.
“Here we were out with our jackets on because it’s in the middle of the winter and filling our bags on the front porch,” Parsons said.
The bags now come with two books thanks to an increase of funding last year, along with materials for parents that explain the importance of reading aloud and milestones for early child development. About a quarter of books given out go to Spanish speakers, and the resources for parents are also in Spanish.
The bags contain a children’s library card and ways for parents to get connected with further free reading resources. The generational impact of the organization’s work has been the most rewarding part for the two women.
“It thrills us when we’re at the library and we see a kid or a parent with the bags, filling it up with books,” Alspaugh said.
Born to Read has about 20 volunteers, which include retirees like Parsons and Alspaugh, but also parents of young children and even a couple high school volunteers. They all believe in the importance of books and getting them in the hands of children as soon as possible.
As Parsons’ daughter was getting ready for college, she was seeing a lot of success with scholarships. Her daughter credited it to learning an early love of reading.
“One of the moms said to her, ‘Why do you think you’ve been able to do so well?’” Parsons said. “And she said, all by herself, ‘I think it’s because I was read to when I was little. Reading is so inherently pleasurable because of all that connection from being read to.’”
Born to Read plans to continue its work giving away free books to young families for years to come. Thirty years in, there are now parents in Longmont receiving free books for their children after receiving their own free materials decades ago.
“All the responses that we get are, ‘We are so glad that you are still doing this. Keep it up,’” Parsons said. “Other people said, ‘We never knew about you, but this is wonderful.’”
