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Bill Dees, from the Hannibal Rotary Club, reads "Will You Help Me?" to Mrs. Schwartz's third class at Oakwood Elementary on Wednesday afternoon. He was one of the 90 volunteers that read to each classroom in the Hannibal School District from k-5th grade.
Bill Dees, from the Hannibal Rotary Club, reads "Will You Help Me?" to Mrs. Schwartz's third class at Oakwood Elementary on Wednesday afternoon. He was one of the 90 volunteers that read to each classroom in the Hannibal School District from k-5th grade.
HANNIBAL – Children often see the need in their communities but aren’t sure how to help.
The book “Will You Help Me?” was read to all elementary-aged students by 90 volunteers through the United Way and other organizations who came to each classroom in the Hannibal Public School District.
The book comes from the United Way organization.
“The book was written locally from a child’s perspective showing how overwhelming it can be to see individuals in the community face complex issues like sickness, hunger, homelessness, seclusion, being without essential items such as winter clothing, and more,” the United Way announced in a recent press release.
Speaking to the concerns of kids who want to help but don’t know how, the book addresses thoughts they might have.
“There are people in my town who need food. I can’t feed all of them by myself. I don’t know how to cook.”
“There are people in my town who need houses but I don’t know how to build a house.”
“There are people who live all by themselves and are lonely. I can’t go visit them because I don’t know how to drive.”
The goal of the book is to inspire young people to help and break down specific ways to help with what can seem like an overwhelming tasks.
Through the perspective of the main character, who is a child, in the book, they learned about ways to help such as giving away outgrown clothing, hosting a food drive, volunteering at the hospital and senior center, and more.
Denise Morriss, principal at Oakwood Elementary, said that many of the kids at Oakwood are always ready to help.
“With canned food drives or clothing donations for the holiday, kids really want to help and they feel good when they help,” she said. “The book breaks it down into kid-friendly language.”
Morriss said having the volunteers from the community reading to them is a boost to the kids. She said many of the volunteers were parents of the children in school.
Bill Dees, from Hannibal Rotary Club, read to a third grade class at Oakwood Elementary taught by Sarah Schwartz, who is also Dees’ daughter.
As he read the book, Dees stopped to chat with the captivated audience sitting on the carpet. “Does anyone here know how to cook?” he asked.
Several announced they could cook macaroni and cheese.
Dees said reading to the kids also promoted a mission of Rotary, which is literacy.
“Reading skills, reading comprehension, and reading passion. You start early with the grade school kids and teach them that reading is important for the rest of their lives. Lifelong learners,” he said.
The Rotary Club along with Hannibal Evening Kiwanis, Hannibal Early Bird Kiwanis and Lions International came together to fund the printing for the book so that each student could take home a copy.
Dees said it was great to work with all of the other organizations. "This is an outreach. There is a lot that needs to be done in the community. It takes a lot of people to do these things,” he said.
The United Way’s theme this year is “Inspire the Future” and Andrea Campbell, the Hannibal Public School Public Relations/Communication Specialist who also serves as a board member of United Way, said getting the book out there is a great way to do that.
She also said having various community leaders come in and read to them was great way to connect the students with the community.
“We were looking for an opportunity to involve more individuals in the community and thought how reading to children about volunteering would be a great way to help our mission come to life,” she said.
Maria Kuhns, the Entrepreneurship Specialist at the Small Business Development Center with the Hannibal Regional Economic Development Council was one of the United Way volunteer readers and spoke with the United Way after the event.
“The kids were a hoot and it was so uplifting to hear them brainstorm how they could help others in our community,” Kuhns said. “They had so much excitement for volunteering. I feel like our future is in great hands!”
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