SANDPOINT — The Panhandle Alliance for Education has received a grant from the BNSF Railway Foundation. This grant will fund a full year of PAFE’s Books for Babies early childhood reading program.

Books for Babies, a program from the American Libraries Association, supports and encourages early childhood literacy beginning at birth. Each Books for Babies kit contains a colorful, high-quality baby’s board book, a bib or onesie with the program’s logo, a “first library card,” and several brochures about the importance of early reading to a baby and toddler. PAFE adds a READY! for Kindergarten brochure to the kit.

A new parent — who recently attended a READY! for Kindergarten workshop for parents of babies from birth to one year — said, “I loved the Books for Babies kit I got at BGH. It was great to get a nice board book for my baby, and I learned a lot from the brochures about early reading.”

The Panhandle Alliance for Education, an educational nonprofit, has partnered with Bonner General Health since 2014 to deliver a Books for Babies kit to every parent whose baby is born at the hospital. Since the program began, several hundred families have received the message about the importance of early reading.

Information: panhandlealliance.org or Executive Director Marcia Wilson, 208-263-7040