East Panhandle Times

By Angela F. Durkin

MARTINSBURG -

For several years, the Martinsburg Sunrise Rotary Club has helped put books into the hands of second-grade students. According to Jackie Fearnow, club secretary, they have just completed the 11th year of their student book program, now known as the Eastern Panhandle Reading Program (EPRP). She said the program is a year-long effort that requires organizers to continually seek new funding, vendor, and partner resources.

Beginning in 2014 as Read Berkeley, the Rotary Club has created a movement that connects local second-grade students with a collection of books of their choosing from Scholastic. Each year, the club distributes the selected books, which are packed in a convenient backpack for the kids to take home to read over the summer break.

According to Fearnow, they have created a custom-made catalog that includes nearly 70 titles from which students may select. “The kids get to pick their books,” Fearnow said. “We have bilingual books. We also have some emotional intelligence books. It’s a custom-made catalog that we get to create every year for the kids to choose their books from.”

The program operated as Read Berkeley through 2019. During the first year, 65 students received backpacks and by 2019, serving a total of 650 students county-wide. The program was expanded in 2020 to include schools in Jefferson and Morgan counties. In 2020, they provided 1,748 students with books and have grown that number to 2,166 this year.

To fund this program, Martinsburg Sunrise Rotary has worked to receive grants throughout the years from organizations such as Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation, Ecolab, the City of Ranson, WISH and author Nora Roberts. In 2023, they also received grants from P&G and Martinsburg Rotary.

Martinsburg Sunrise Rotary also gained support for EPRP from Charles Town, Shepherdstown and Berkeley Springs rotary clubs. They not only assist financially but members from these local clubs help volunteer to pack the backpacks once the books are shipped to each school.

“The other Rotary Clubs in the Panhandle — we could not do this without them,” Fearnow said. “The Charles Town club, the Shepherdstown club, The Martinsburg noon club and the Berkeley Springs club...have all financially and physically supported this program.” This program also would not be possible without help from school principals, second-grade teachers, guidance counselors, school librarians county administrators at the school level and community parents and volunteers.

Arleen Blackall joined the club last year. After she saw the reaction from students who received their backpacks for the first time she wanted to increase her involvement in the program. She now serves as chair for their annual fundraising event.

“I joined a year ago in February,” she said. “Last year was my first taste of being involved in the book program...I went back to my first school and handed out books...I was hooked.” Blackall was thrilled to step up as chair after being approached by Fearnow.

To help raise EPRP funds organizers host an annual bonanza event in fall This year's event will be held Oct. 25 at Moose Lodge in Martinsburg Tickets will soon be available for purchase “The tagline this year is ‘Where Adventure Begins,’” she said “It’s all about...the adventure of reading.”

Fearnow explained tickets include entry for two people priced at $50 The event will feature dinner dancing music emcee services raffles silent auction “That’s two entries into event one entry on elimination board includes food unlimited draft beer non-alcoholic drinks,” she said

To prepare for bonanza club working hard arrange donations silent auction Several exciting donations already offered including vacation Deep Creek Lake Maryland

Fearnow said anyone able donate visiting website attending bonanza directly through rotary members To stay up-to-date follow Martinsburg Sunrise Rotary Club on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MartinsburgSunriseRotaryClub

Martinsburg Sunrise Rotary Club meets at 7:30 a.m Tuesdays Blue Ridge Community Technical College For more information visit https://martinsburgsunriserotary.org/