The Lafayette Rotary Club donated $750 to ReadingWithKids.org in support of their mission to encourage parents to read to their children, to encourage our children to read, and to encourage reading for everyone across our region.
Rotary President Renee Menard noted, “Rotary has long been a leader in the development of our children, which is essential to our larger goal of improving our community and our world. From the founding of Lafayette Rotary in 1920, one of our very first initiatives was to develop a Doll and Toy Fund for the disadvantaged children of our community. Around the same time, we founded the first musical band for our children, and we founded the local Boy Scouts chapter, and have been supporters of scouting for boys and girls ever since.
“And of course, as we were doing all of these things, we initiated an effort to create a Lafayette library. Our first efforts failed, but we returned to the effort repeatedly. Finally, after WWII we converted our War savings into funding for a 1950 public referendum on the issue. Because of Rotary’s leadership and dedication, Lafayette’s first public library finally opened in 1952.
“This donation is a continuation of what Rotarians in Lafayette, and everywhere, seek to do: improve our children. ReadingWithKids.org is a natural extension of everything we work for, as reading to children from the prenatal through childhood will continue to improve our community, and improve the lives of our children.”