L.J. McPeake of Durham, left, receives a 2008 Governor’s Exemplary Service Award from Gov. John Baldacci for his work on behalf of children through the BookReach Early Childhood Literacy Program of the Lewiston and Auburn public libraries. CarolAnne Dube, chairwoman of the Maine Commission for Community Service, observes.

BookReach’s McPeake receives award

AUGUSTA – Gov. John Baldacci and the Maine Commission for Community Service recently recognized the recipients of the 2008 Governor’s Service Awards for their contributions of time and energy while volunteering in Maine communities.

Among those recipients was L.J. McPeake, also known as “Mr. Mac” to some of Lewiston-Auburn’s youngest citizens, who was presented an Exemplary Service Award.

McPeake was one of several to help envision, design and bring to life the successful BookReach Early Childhood Literacy Program of the Lewiston and Auburn public libraries.

The Lewiston Aspirations Partnership (LAP), formed in 1994 to provide and nurture leadership to raise the aspirations of Lewiston’s youth, was looking for a mission in 1997. Member Peter Geiger discussed the importance of children learning to read before entering school. McPeake, also an LAP member, helped to develop a way to use that information to benefit the Lewiston-Auburn community.

In late 1997, the LAP collaborated with Androscoggin Head Start and Child Care and the local libraries to start what is now known as BookReach. McPeake helped to recruit the first few volunteer readers for its pilot program.

Grant funding, book donations and donated time, talent and funds from businesses and organizations in 1998 allowed the program to grow. Both of the twin cities’ libraries have funded BookReach since 2002.

Kathleen Demers, BookReach coordinator, said, “It wasn’t enough for Mac to just recruit others to participate – he wanted to volunteer as well. He has offered valuable ideas while serving on BookReach’s Advisory Board, he continues to recruit readers by spreading the word about the program, and he currently visits not one, but three childcares each week during his time off from work. He is incredibly supportive of one of the most crucial and yet simple things we can all do to grow alert, inquisitive and productive children – read to them regularly.”

BookReach is a community collaboration of volunteer readers, each of whom is matched with a licensed home-based childcare in Lewiston or Auburn. A reader brings a bag of children’s literature and a story time experience each week for children up to age 5. Upon finishing a story time, each reader leaves a new bag of 10 books for the children and the childcare provider and returns the bag from the previous visit to the library.

Children hear the rhythm of the spoken word, intergenerational relationships develop and a variety of artists’ work can be enjoyed through the stories’ illustrations. It is known that positive, regular exposure to stories in a child’s early years can create a pleasant childhood memory leading to lifelong enjoyment of reading and successful learning. BookReach exists to help storytellers create such a memory for the community’s young children and, hopefully, the desire to read long beyond childhood.