In the summer of 2019, the Mark Morris Fund was able to provide funds for a new community program to benefit Lewiston-Altura Schools and the surrounding community.
As described by Sharon Manley, Lewiston-Altura’s Library Media Specialist:
“Camp Read S’More was a joint venture with Lewiston-Altura Community Education. Neither Lewiston nor Altura have a public library and we felt there was a need in our communities for access to books and summer programming. With the help of organizations such as the Mark Morris Foundation, Camp Read S’More came to life. For 8 weeks during the summer of 2019, we opened the elementary library to anyone in the communities. We used a camping theme to guide families through the program. We offered storytime, craft time, “camping” activities, and of course books to check out. It was a huge success! We recorded over 500 visits over that period of time.”
Access to programs like Camp S’more allows students and their families to fill the gap between school years with educational activities, community experiences, and most fundamentally, reading. We were so excited that Ms. Manley piloted this program, and plan to continue supporting it in the summers going forward.
If you’d like to see more photos as well as a note from Ms. Manley, please see the attached letter.