By Kate Hill
Staff Writer
On Tuesday, May 5, Cazenovia Public Library (CPL) teamed up with Cazenovia Central School District (CCSD) to provide students with free books during the school meal pickup at the high school portico entrance.
“The library’s goal is to get more books into children’s homes, and the school meal program is the perfect vehicle to accomplish this,” said Library Director Betsy Kennedy. “Superintendent Matt Reilly and the school principals were very open to our suggestion of distributing books to families and assisted in facilitating the project.”
According to CPL Children’s Education Coordinator Jenna Wright Martin, who ran last week’s distribution, the library will be offering a wide selection of books to students once a week throughout the mandated school closure.
“The school has graciously let us have a table beside their meal distribution area so that families can browse the books and pick up their meals at the same place,” said Wright Martin. “We try to have the books grouped by very general reading levels, like picture books, easy readers, early chapter books and Young Adult/Adult books.”
On the first day of the “Books with Lunches” initiative, the library distributed 105 items.
“All of the families were very appreciative and thrilled to be able to select something new to read,” Wright Martin said. “There were lots of thrilled preschool and kindergarten mamas who are happy to not read the same book a thousand more times.”
According to Wright Martin, all of the books the library is giving out have been in storage since the beginning of March and not been touched for more than six weeks.
The library is also making sure to isolate new offerings for a week before adding them to the rotation and following the best practice guidelines from the CDC and the American Library Association.
According to Reilly, working with the library is a natural partnership for the district.
“Being able to feed both the bodies and minds of our students is crucial during this period of time,” Reilly said. “Betsy Kennedy and Jenna Wright Martin have been great to work with as we strive to serve the community.”
All students residing within the Cazenovia Central School district are eligible for free meals during the closure. Pickup is from 8 to 11 a.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Extra meals are distributed on Tuesday and Thursday to account for Wednesday and Friday.
The pickup location will remain at the high school portico entrance until the asbestos abatement project at the middle school is completed.
In an effort to maintain safe social distancing during pickup, adults are asked to exit their vehicles and retrieve their meals from a table. School staff members will ask for the number of meals needed, and then place the meals on the table. Once they have placed the meals on the table and stepped back, it is safe to approach the table.
According to Reilly, the district continues to distribute an increasing number of meals to families. As of May 5, CCSD had served more than 20,000 meals since the start of the school closure period.
“We are on pace to serve more meals during this closure period than we typically do during an entire school year,” Reilly said. “Our food service staff are performing heroic work and deserve everyone’s thanks.”
For additional information on meal pickup, call Food Services Director Char Grimes at 315-655-5346.
The Cazenovia Public Library building is closed to the public until further notice. Numerous online resources are available at cazenoviapubliclibrary.org .
Questions regarding the Books with Lunches initiative can be directed to Jenna Wright Martin at [email protected] .
For more information on the local response to COVID-19, visit sites.google.com/view/cazcovidresponse/home .
