Hi-Line Living: Local reading group celebrates 10 years

Plant a Seed...Read! of north-central Montana celebrates its 10th Anniversary as non-profit this year.

"Plant a Seed...Read! is proactive non-profit. We try to intervene before challenges arise before they start school," Plant a Seed ... Read! north-central Montana Executive Program Director Lorraine Verploegen said. "Being a non-profit, we were able to bring in the Imagination Library from the Dollywood Foundation and these are age-appropriate books that children can receive free of charge to families once a month and stimulates bonding, language, vocabulary, gets them to think beyond the story or connect with their own experiences when they read aloud."

She said that sometimes something might be bothering a child - a problem they might've had at day care or when playing with a sibling - and a reading a book could help them address that problem, learning how to talk about what is bothering them and how families can problem solve and work together on a positive note.

"During those first five years of, life from birth to age 5, the brain grows to 85 to 90 percent of its potential, so it's really a short period of time that a lot is happening to that child's brain and you want to stimulate that and keep things growing in the brain and connecting that," she said. "Parents are the child's first teacher. And I'm not saying they have to teach them how to read - but by showing examples, reading recipes or enjoy reading yourself, this is an important role of the parents just showing them things around them."

The goal is to get these books into more and more families in Blaine, Hill and Phillips county right now, Verploegen said. 

She said Montana is one of  several Plant a Seed locations across the U.S. in states including New York, Hawaii, Texas, Colorado and more.

North-central Montana's Plant a Seed...Read! website says Imagination Library provides tremendous opportunities.

"Each month, over a million books are sent out to preschool children in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia," the site says. "A child enrolled in the Imagination Library receives an age-appropriate book once a month until their fifth birthday."

The website adds that the benefits of reading aloud to children are:

• Bonding

•Literacy skills - comprehension

• Concepts about print

• Language

• Love of reading

• Brain development

Verploegen said the north-central Montana organization started in the mid-1990s when she came back from training with the Reading Recovery Program in which she saw a program where a child received that one-on-one time with their parent doing an activity or reading together and saw the closeness that program brought.

"Then it evolved when I was executive director for United Way and I found out about the Dollywood Foundation and the program, so I talked to the United Way board and said, 'If we could use the 501 (c) (3) then we could bring in the Dollywood Foundation," she said. 

She added that through United Way she had her own board for Plant a Seed...Read! And did that for about three years, then was encouraged to start her own 501 (c) (3), which she did.

"It opened more doors for us, personally, to get grants and that. I was nervous about it, but it opened a door and the door widened quite greatly," she said. "Since 2010, we officially became a 501 (c) (3), so this is our 10th anniversary of being a non-profit and we kind of did word of mouth, went to different service organizations and businesses and individuals that type of thing. We didn't officially start campaigning till 2016."

This year, the non-profit is hosting numerous events, she said starting with Crunch for a Cause at Taco John's Thursday, Feb. 13. People making a purchase at Taco John's that day between 5 and 7 p.m. can mention Plant a Seed...Read! and the restaurant will donate 50 percent of the purchase price to the fundraiser.

"This year the proceeds will enable us to purchase small tables for the Annual Literacy Carnival and other events, such as parent workshops, etcetera," she said

Saturday, March 28, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Plant a Seed...Read! is hosting its second annual Literacy Carnival at the Holiday Village Mall.

"(It) is a free family event for children from birth to age 8," Veroplogen said. "This event provides families and community members to have fun, learn more about Plant a Seed...Read!, and how play enhances learning, love of reading, readiness skills, bonding, language development and brain development."

She added that she does an annual campaign which takes place from April 1 to June 30 and this year's goal is to collect $50,000.

"The annual campaign is a time where community members and businesses can support the program by Adopting a Reader or supporting Plant a Seed...Read! with the various other projects as they continue to promote the power of reading aloud to children starting at birth," she said. "Donors may designate a child to receive the books or are assigned to a child that needs a sponsor for $30 per year. Each child receives an age-appropriate book each month sent directly to their home from Imagination Library.

Last, but not least, a cash raffle will be taking place with tickets going on sale Sunday, March 1, with the drawing at a Triple Dog Pint Night from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 24, with Triple Dog making donations.

"This is our signature event," she said. "Individuals purchase the $20 ticket with the chance to win one of 20 $50 tickets,  one of 10 $100 tickets or one of the top three prizes, $250, $500 or $1500. All tickets are drawn at the Triple Dog Pint Night."

Verploegen said that Plant a Seed...Read! is beneficial for the children as they prepare to attend school. It's a readiness strategy to get them to know about books and things like the difference between a word and a letter.

"I always liked reading to my kids at night after they took their bath and they were warm, cuddly and smelled good and so all that sensory stuff (can) help the parent relax and then they went to bed. And then I was ready to do what I needed to do, but I had that time to unwind first, so it's beneficial," she said. "The other thing is you find out all sorts of wonderful things about your kids, like I didn't know a 3-year-old knew that or that my child knew this, and you knew your child was smart, but it just verified it."

"Through Plant a Seed...Read! we are helping parents starting at 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 9 months, through 5 years of age through the milestone checklist, just kind of saying, 'OK, how do they do this in social, emotional development or physical development or literacy development.'"

She said when talking about literacy, it is literacy through listening, speaking and writing, because all those components are important.

She added that she has found research that says children are coming to school with very poor fine motor skills which makes it difficult for children to write.

She said the thing she has found most rewarding in the 30-plus years of teaching was teaching a child how to read, especially a child who has had difficulty in reading and who finally figured out the strategies and how they worked. Those ah-ha moments were the most rewarding moments she had ever had.

She said north-central Montana Plant a Seed...Read! has served more than 1,000 children in the last 10 years.