Bridge of books strengthened
Community encouraged to donate reading material
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP Staff Writer

CHRIS KELLY staff Kylie Porzl, 9, and Ryan Kelly, 9 months, children of Moms Club of Millstone Township members, listen to Sydney Woloszyn, 8, a Girl Scout in Millstone Township Troop 9, read a story at the Millstone Township Community Center Dec. 9.

Millstone Township Girl Scouts helped teach the importance of reading to toddlers to kick off a larger literacy project.

The 11 members of Girl Scout Troop 9 visited with Moms Club of Millstone Township children Dec. 9 in the Community Center to read holiday stories, decorate cupcakes, make reindeer crafts, create cards for soldiers and collect book donations for the Bridge of Books program.

The Bridge of Books Foundation, located in Rumson, provides new and used books to at-risk children throughout New Jersey. The foundation gives books to foster family agencies, homeless shelters, head start and after-school programs, underfunded schools, neighborhood centers, boys and girls clubs, and directly to children at food pantries.

After researching the foundation, the Millstone Girl Scouts recognized that literacy skills garnered from exposure to books is vital to a child's future successes and economic stability and launched a book drive to support the Bridge of Books program. The Scouts kicked off the drive at the Moms Club meeting.

CHRIS KELLY staff Millstone's Alexandra Sullivan, 3, Emily Normand, 9, and Lenna DeLaCruz, 3, listen to Millstone Township Girl Scout Troop 9 member Katie DiFrancesco read a story at the Millstone Township Community Center Dec. 9.

Girl Scouts Kylie Porzl, Melissa Dikert, Dana Bakerman, Katie Difrancesco, Maggie Bielic, Lauren Rosero, Nicole Clarke, Trisha Gurukar, Julia Friedman, Heidi Hyland, Grace Anderson, who are all fourthgraders between the ages of 9 and 10, dressed up as reindeer to make reading fun for Moms Club members' children. Troop co-leaders Colleen Dikert and Tammi Porzl helped them organize the event.

"Troop 9 would like to thank the Moms Club of Millstone Township for their participation and donations and our community for supporting us," Dikert said.

The Scouts will continue to collect books until March 1 and encourage community members to drop donations off starting in January at the collection boxes in the Millstone Township schools. The troop hopes to add other donation locations as the drive ensues.

CHRIS KELLY staff Millstone's Nicole Clarke, 9, Heidi Hyland, 10, and Maggie Bielic, 9, make crafts.

According to information compiled by the Bridge of Books Foundation, more than 20 percent of adults in the United States read at or below a fifth-grade level, which is far below the level needed to earn a living wage. Forty-three percent of people with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty and 70 percent of those with the lowest literacy skills have no job.

The development of early literacy skills through early experiences with books and stories is directly linked to a child's success in learning to read, according to the foundation. The foundation also believes that development of reading skills is a continuous process that begins early in life and depends heavily on environmental influences.

According to Dikert, the Scouts in Troop 9 bridged from Brownies to Junior Girl Scouts in May and have been together since Daisies in kindergarten. As Junior Scouts, they also recently had opportunities to go camping and visit a water park.

"Their most recent badge activity involved trying farm activities from the 1800s, including milking cows, playing with toys, potato stamping and tasting butter they churned," Dikert said.

Some of the other service activities Troop 9 has participated in were helping seniors decorate pumpkins, making baby blankets for a local charity, collecting food for a local food bank, donating chore money to shop for clothes and personal items for a local charity and shelter, collecting personal items for and writing letters to soldiers fighting in Iraq and making comfort pillows for patients undergoing radiation treatment for breast cancer.

"We would especially like to thank the Troop 9 parents, especially their moms, that support and help us in every activity," Dikert said.

The Scouts will also be selling Girl Scout cookies in January. This school year, Troop 9 also hopes to earn a Girl Scout Bronze Award for service.

For updated book drive information, including donation locations, e-mail troop9mt@gmail.com.