Perennially favorite children’s books like Blueberries for Sal, The Red Lemon, and The Carrot Seed, among dozens of others about fruits, vegetables and gardening will be offered to Casa’s clients that come in during March who have been previously counseled over the phone by its education coordinators and nutritionists, according to Dawn Bush, WIC and Wellness Coordinator. “Counseling will inform parents about ways to change their grocery store habits and will offer ways to participate in community gardens,” said Bush.
“The importance to Casa Guadalupe having children’s fruit and vegetable books for National Nutrition Month is that families of the WIC program can learn about the importance of nutrition. They also get to spend time reading together,” added Bush.
“These hand-picked children’s books make learning about fruit and vegetables fun,” said Cathy Leiber, President, Judith’s Reading Room. Ms. Leiber, a 16 year Penn State Master Gardener has donated over 1,500 volunteer hours in communities across the region. Notably, she partnered with other Master Gardeners to create The Garden of New Beginnings at the Sixth Street Shelter in Allentown where fresh vegetables were grown. She saw first-hand how many inner-city residents were surprised to see that tomatoes grow on a vine, in soil, since they had only seen tomatoes come out of a can.
Judith’s Reading Room’s mission is to enrich lives and societies by proactively encouraging freedom through literacy. That mission has been fulfilled by establishing 101 libraries in 22 countries with 130,446 books donated worth over $1.4 million. The annual $5,000 Freedom Through Literacy Award, is bestowed on champions of literacy, who have done exemplary work to instill in others a love of reading. Applications are available at www.JudithsReadingRoom.org. Deadline for submission is July 1, 2021.
To learn more about how to grow fruits and vegetables, contact your local county extension office. For residents in Berks County call 610-378-1327; for Lehigh County, call 610-391-9840; for Northampton County, call 610-746-1970.