Billings group encourages early literacy

Billings, Montana – You can learn new things, explore new places, and discover new opportunities through books.

One organization in the Magic City wants to teach children to read from a very young age.

One of the Billings Junior Woman’s Club’s longest-running initiatives is Books for Babies.

Volunteers from the Woman’s Club gather at least twice a year to pack more than 3,000 bags with baby-friendly reading material, such as interactive touch-and-feel books.

The books are then delivered to each new child born in Billings throughout the course of the year at St. Vincent and the Billings Clinic.

The program also has a second component that assists new parents in launching their child’s literacy journey.

Kristen Stewart, a co-Parliamentarian for the B.J.W.C. Executive Board, describes how the project goes beyond infants.

Stewart says that “parents can access some reading materials not only for their child but also, they can have some information pamphlets for the local library and the reading programs supported through there as well as our club and any other necessary support for new parents.”

Additionally, the bags include information on the value and effects of reading to your kids as early as possible.