Kiwanis kicks off summer reading challenge

Ormond Beach Observer
Neighbors

Research shows children who do not read in the summer can lose two to three months of reading development, called the “summer slide.” The Kiwanis Club of Ormond Beach is attacking this problem by launching the Ormond Beach Reads! Summer Challenge.

The campaign officially kicks off at Ormond Beach Elementary School on May 13 with a visit from best-selling children’s author Sandra Markle, who will conduct several workshops for the students.

The Kiwanis Club of Ormond Beach will provide all 350 students an opportunity to select four books from a Kiwanis Summer Reading Book Fair at the end of the day. In addition, every OBE teacher will be able to select ten books from the Fair for their classroom libraries. OBES will challenge their students to read over 250,000 minutes over the summer and encourage other Ormond Beach schools to join the challenge.

The school will open up the Summer Reading Book Fair to the public and students at the other four elementary schools on May 13 from 2 to 4 p.m. Kiwanis will be matching every purchase with a free second book. All five Ormond Beach elementary schools will be encouraged to have their students log their reading minutes through the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge site, a free online and mobile-friendly summer reading tracker. The site also includes resources to help parents keep kids reading through summer vacation.

Restaurant Row, a group of businesses on State Road A1A, organized a beach cleanup. Courtesy photo

The Kiwanis Club chose OBE as the sponsored school because they are a Title 1 school with nearly 80% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch, according to Kiwanis Club President Elect and local author Dillon Kalkhurst.

“Because the summer slide is cumulative each summer, low socioeconomic students slip further behind,” he said.

The Kiwanis Club of Ormond Beach was able to raise the money required to purchase the books by selling SaveAround Coupons that Care books and they received a generous grant from the Kiwanis Florida District Foundation.

Beach cleanup planned

The Ormond Beachside Restaurant Row Foundation successfully held their first fundraising event on April 27, a beach cleanup with 70 participants collecting 275 pounds of trash. The foundation is a business group that seeks to revitalize Ormond beachside. The event was organized by Lena Lux of Tipsy Taco and included a cornhole tournament, live music raffles. The money will be used to incorporate as a nonprofit group. There will be another beach cleanup on June 8. Register at Tipsy Taco Cantina at 11 a.m.

Shown are Firefighter Frank Autorino, Fire Chief Richard Sievers and Firefighter Garrett Fiske at a City Commission meeting. Courtesy photo

Public safety officers added

Two new firefighters and four police officers were introduced at recent City Commission meetings, the firefighters on May 7 and the police officers on March 21. See the photos for their names.

Rotary cleans up Granada

The Rotary Club of Downtown Ormond Beach recently completed their quarterly cleanup of Granada Boulevard, between U.S. 1 and Nova Road, as part of the Adopt-A-Highway

Police Chief Jesse Godfrey introduced Officer Ciara Devane, Officer Lloyd “Burt” Stanley, Officer Austin Long and Officer Sara Doroski to the City Commission. Courtesy photo

program. Ten Rotarians attended the pickup session and collected ten large bags of trash. The group met at Fletcher’s Irish Pub for lunch, after the cleanup.

Local artist founds society

The new American Tonalist Society has announced that seven paintings were sold at its inaugural exhibition May 3-10, Shades of Gray, at the Salmagundi Club in New York City, including Wolf Moon by ATS co-founder Daniel Ambrose, of Ormond Beach.

The society and its exhibition were covered in the May issues of American Art Collector, Southwest Art and Fine Art Connoisseur magazines, according to a press release from the society. The American Tonalist Society was founded by four East Coast artists during an artists’ retreat in Maine. The tonalist movement focuses on emotion, spirituality and mood, using a minimal palette of hues.