The Kootenai Valley Rotary Club is doing its best to stress the importance of literacy, continuing a program started last year at Kootenai Valley Head Start.

On Tuesday, the Rotary Club conducted two sessions in which 16 four-year-old students received oak bookcases with donated reading material. The only catch is parents are required to read to their children nightly.

“It’s the key. Reading is the key to learning,” Kootenai Valley Rotary Club Project Coordinator George Gerard said as he briefly addressed a 12:15 p.m. gathering of students, their parents, reading coaches and Head Start officials who saw four children receive their books and bookcases. The balance of the students attended a 5 p.m. gathering Tuesday.

Parents were given a letter from Gerard as the Rotary Club’s representative stating their children will receive books and a bookcase valued at about $200. As mentors, parents are required to read to their children.

“All we require is five minutes of reading to your children,” said Bgee Zimmerman, a retired elementary school teacher with 37 years of experience. “Just read to them, at least five minutes a day. It can be from a book or a cereal box. Just read.”

Zimmerman and other coaches, Sherry Beagle and Barb Sears, have a combined 104 years of teaching experience.  “All that means is we’re old,” mused Zimmerman when Gerard introduced them. The retired teachers also are available for home visits to assist parents with reading assignments.

Parents were given a letter written from Gerard that explained the program and their agreed commitment of reading to their children. Parents must read to their children daily, agree to a home visit from one of the reading coaches and obtain a library card for their child.

“We want your child to succeed in school, and we know that much of that success depends upon the ability to reach,” Gerard wrote. “We also know that the foundation for reading success begins in the home and if parents encourage reading at an early age, their child is more likely to be successful.”

Gerard explained that for each grade level of reading achieved, studies indicate a $7,500 increase in salary.

“Someone who has achieved a ninth-grade reading level will earn, on average, $7,500 more annually than someone with an eighth-grade education,” he said. “So, you can see the importance of reading.”

Haylee Orsborn was one of the students to attend the 12:15 p.m. session with her mother, Jaclyn Wilson.

“Haylee has been talking about this for a week,” Orsborn said. “I was so excited for her. It’s great for the kids. For her, being able to open a book and read it, even if she’s imagining the words, it opens up the world.”

Each child will receive a two-shelf oak bookcase donated by the Rotary club. Gerard estimated the cost of each case and books to be about $200. Each bookcase contained a name tag with the child’s name.

“We just want them to take advantage of these resources,” Gerard said.

Kootenai Valley Head Start Director Peggy Rayome said reading is the primary building block of education.

“Literacy is the foundation of learning,” Rayome said. “Even if they’re just looking at the pictures. Sooner or later they will be reading. That’s what reading accomplishes.”