Introducing children to reading is a very important step to their development. Unfortunately, not all children have access to books, which is something that International Altrusa of Portland wants to overcome.
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| Windham Primary School kindergarten teacher Lindsey Pettus and her students show off some of the books they have received thanks to the generosity of the Portland Altrusa Club and club president Wanda Pettersen of Windham, right. SUBMITTED PHOTO |
As a non-profit organization, Altrusa focuses on community service and for the last six years, Altrusa volunteers have been coming to Windham Primary School kindergarten classrooms to read to the children and let each of them choose a “forever” book to take home.
Wanda Pettersen of Windham is the president of the Portland Altrusa Club. She recently retired and used to work for Cumberland County government and joined Altrusa through a friend of hers who is also part of Altrusa and suggested to Petterson that she should become part of the team. While Pettersen has been with Altrusa for more than two years, she is serving her second year as president.
She fell in love with the program.
“Our focus at the Portland Altrusa Club is literacy, introducing books and stories to children who are just learning to read or just learning to look at books,” says Pettersen. “There are some children who have books at home and hopefully have someone who can read to them, but there are also children who don’t have any books at home. We hope to reach each and every child so that they can be curious about books.”
Pettersen works with WPS teacher Lindsey Pettus, who has been with Windham Primary School for 12 years where she is a kindergarten teacher and Team Leader.
“We were introduced to Altrusa about six years ago,” says Pettus. “Over the past six years that they have been coming to our school, they have given around 1,200 free books to our students. They also come in and read to the students before giving out their books, sharing their love of literacy. The students are always so excited to choose a forever book to take home and add to their collection. It is a great way to promote a love of literacy for our youngest learners.”
Pettus was introduced to Pettersen when they started collaborating with Altrusa because of Pettus’ role as a team leader.
Altrusa used to only ask volunteers to read for Portland and South Portland schools, but Pettersen, being a resident of Windham, spoke with Dr. Kyle Rhoads, WPS principal and then got in contact with Pettus.
“Together she and I have coordinated the visits for all of our kindergarten classes each year,” says Pettus. “During the pandemic we did a recorded ‘virtual visit’ and then distributed the books to the students.”
Altrusa has books donated at Books A Million and then schedules their guest readers who come and read to students and let them choose a book to keep.
“After the reading, we let the children go around a table and choose a book to take home,” says Pettersen. “We stress that this is not a library book, you don’t need to bring it back, it’s yours to keep. We started to call them ‘Forever’ books because some of the children were kept repeating that they get to keep the book forever.”
The Altrusa and WPS initiative remains strong.
“This has been a wonderful partnership for our school over the years,” says Pettus. “The kindergarten students love having guest readers to read them a story and they are thrilled with the beautiful selection of books and getting to choose one to keep.”
If there are any non-profits in the area that need books or would like more information on what Altrusa offers, Pettersen encourages them to reach out to her.
“We love giving books to non-profits. If anyone needs books, there is a form on our website — https://www.altrusaportland.org/request-books.html — which you can fill out,” says Pettersen.
Altrusa also partners with different food programs and pantries and partners with Cricket Comforts when they put together pillowcases for the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital, which Altrusa has been doing for the past few years.
“We also put an empty bowl for Project Feed,” says Pettersen. “It’s a lot of different community service, but our main focus is literacy.”
The Portland Altrusa Club is celebrating their 95th birthday this year and hopes to reach many more local students and spark their interest in reading books. <
Wanda Pettersen of Windham is the president of the Portland Altrusa Club. She recently retired and used to work for Cumberland County government and joined Altrusa through a friend of hers who is also part of Altrusa and suggested to Petterson that she should become part of the team. While Pettersen has been with Altrusa for more than two years, she is serving her second year as president.
“The kids are great, it’s so much fun to be with them,” says Pettersen. “It brings joy to know that this child has a book and that they can bring it home and can read it to their parents or siblings or show them the pictures. It’s very heartfelt.”
She fell in love with the program.
“Our focus at the Portland Altrusa Club is literacy, introducing books and stories to children who are just learning to read or just learning to look at books,” says Pettersen. “There are some children who have books at home and hopefully have someone who can read to them, but there are also children who don’t have any books at home. We hope to reach each and every child so that they can be curious about books.”
Pettersen works with WPS teacher Lindsey Pettus, who has been with Windham Primary School for 12 years where she is a kindergarten teacher and Team Leader.
“We were introduced to Altrusa about six years ago,” says Pettus. “Over the past six years that they have been coming to our school, they have given around 1,200 free books to our students. They also come in and read to the students before giving out their books, sharing their love of literacy. The students are always so excited to choose a forever book to take home and add to their collection. It is a great way to promote a love of literacy for our youngest learners.”
Pettus was introduced to Pettersen when they started collaborating with Altrusa because of Pettus’ role as a team leader.
Altrusa used to only ask volunteers to read for Portland and South Portland schools, but Pettersen, being a resident of Windham, spoke with Dr. Kyle Rhoads, WPS principal and then got in contact with Pettus.
“Together she and I have coordinated the visits for all of our kindergarten classes each year,” says Pettus. “During the pandemic we did a recorded ‘virtual visit’ and then distributed the books to the students.”
Altrusa has books donated at Books A Million and then schedules their guest readers who come and read to students and let them choose a book to keep.
“After the reading, we let the children go around a table and choose a book to take home,” says Pettersen. “We stress that this is not a library book, you don’t need to bring it back, it’s yours to keep. We started to call them ‘Forever’ books because some of the children were kept repeating that they get to keep the book forever.”
The Altrusa and WPS initiative remains strong.
“This has been a wonderful partnership for our school over the years,” says Pettus. “The kindergarten students love having guest readers to read them a story and they are thrilled with the beautiful selection of books and getting to choose one to keep.”
If there are any non-profits in the area that need books or would like more information on what Altrusa offers, Pettersen encourages them to reach out to her.
“We love giving books to non-profits. If anyone needs books, there is a form on our website — https://www.altrusaportland.org/request-books.html — which you can fill out,” says Pettersen.
Altrusa also partners with different food programs and pantries and partners with Cricket Comforts when they put together pillowcases for the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital, which Altrusa has been doing for the past few years.
“We also put an empty bowl for Project Feed,” says Pettersen. “It’s a lot of different community service, but our main focus is literacy.”
The Portland Altrusa Club is celebrating their 95th birthday this year and hopes to reach many more local students and spark their interest in reading books. <
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