Rebecca Percy is a pediatrician at Castle Valley Children's Clinic and she's been giving out free books at her practice for years. Percy says that reading is an essential part of a healthy life for both kids and adults. So she, and a few community members, founded the Free For All Book Fair. This year's fair is on December 13th in Glenwood Springs and includes local authors, story time, and thousands of books.
"I have realized as a pediatrician that children need access to books. It's one of the biggest health equity things that we can do for children. We know that having access to books, having adults read them books, having books in the home can increase their socioeconomic growth, increase their literacy, and just general health.
I've been giving out free books in my office for quite a few years along with the other providers in my office, but a few years ago we realized that lots of kids love going to book fairs at school. And some kids in the schools don't have the money to do that. When people kept reaching out to me to donate books to the clinic, I said, 'Well, why can't we put these books out to the community in a bigger, more meaningful way?' And so that's how the Free For All Book Fair started. Anybody can walk in, take as many books as they want, baby books, kids books, adult books. We try to offer Spanish language and English language books. I think last year we probably gave away 2,000 to 3,000 books. And so this year I think we've collected at least that much, if not more."
Reading is a critical part of childhood development and plenty of kids and even adults in the Roaring Fork Valley don't have equitable access to books. Percy says that a big part of being a pediatrician is making sure kids get the right head start.
"A lot of our work is done as preventative medicine. A lot of people don't think about what happens in the home as a source of your health. But that's 100 percent for kids. What their source of their health and their potential health outcomes can be, right? Do they feel safe at home? Do they have food at home? Do they have access to learning resources at home? And so as a pediatrician we should be thinking about those things and we should be asking families those things and providing them with resources for that if they don't have it."
Kids need to feel wanted, important, and included. And that can be a challenge for new arrivals. Percy says that offering books and storytime in Spanish is part of taking care of our neighbors and our local community.
"We have a lot of people coming to our community who are not necessarily English speaking, and we have a lot of those kids integrating right into our schools. And I think our school district does a fantastic job of providing them the resources that they have. But I think there's some data coming out of the school district saying probably over 95 percent of those kids don't have any kind of reading material when they come here.
My clinic sees a lot of Medicaid patients. And we see a lot of families who are on WIC or don't have the resources on a weekly or monthly basis to buy groceries."
The Free for All Book Fair is a group effort. Sponsors include individuals, a bank, and multiple dentistry practices. Because of the positive reception and community support, the fair is moving into a bigger venue in the Glenwood Springs Community Center.
Percy says that her goal is to partner with RE1 and RE2 schools to provide free books to students who don't have access to reading materials at home.
"There's a program in Chicago called Bernie's Books, and they identify children in their school districts who don't have their own home libraries, who don't have access to books, and they make a pledge to give them free books at their reading level every year, kindergarten through sixth grade. So, my vision is that we can start partnering with the school district over the next couple years to identify those kids in our valley as well."
The book fair is just one aspect of Percy's larger message of community and caring for our neighbors. She encourages Valley residents to volunteer, mentor, and think about making a difference on a local level.