Original Source: The Topeka Capital-Journal
By Celia Llopis-Jepsen
Playing in mud may have its upsides, but it has downsides, too. That seemed to be the takeaway for 5-year-old Viji Ramanathan as she leafed through and chatted about an illustrated book — titled simply “Mud!” — that she and her classmates had just finished reading with a United Way volunteer.
“Mud makes you yucky,” said Viji, who will turn 6 soon. “Mud makes you feel not soft and mud makes you feel not happy.”
Viji and her 16 classmates shared smiles and giggles over the book as they sat in a semi-circle on the floor of their McClure Elementary classroom on Thursday, listening to Jill Smith, an employee of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, reading it aloud.
The special treat? Each of the children — Pam Works’ kindergarten class — got to follow along with their own copy of the book, a gift from the United Way.
“I am just thrilled about the support” from the organization, Works said. “Many kids don’t have a lot of books at home.”
Smith enjoyed the experience, too.
“I got all kinds of hugs,” she said.
As part of an initiative called the Junior Leader Reader Program, the United Way of Greater Topeka and its volunteers have been distributing thousands of books per year to kindergartners and preschoolers while visiting local schools to read to children. The program started six years ago and is an initiative of the Young Leaders Society, a group of young professionals engaged in the United Way. It has put a total of 20,000 books into the hands of local children.
Angel Romero, senior director of resource development at the United Way of Greater Topeka, says the point is ensuring young children have access to books when they aren’t at school. Some of the children in Works’ class may have a number of books at home and others may not. Regardless, all of them went home Thursday with a copy of “Mud.”
Over the past two weeks, the program gave out 1,400 books at several local elementary schools. The distribution focuses on schools with higher rates of children from low-income families.