On June 19, students and faculty members at Eastern Connecticut State University helped to create literacy kits for children in the local community as part of National Summer Learning Day.

In conjunction with United Way, volunteers created 40 kits that will be distributed to underprivileged children throughout Windham. “The Center for Community Engagement (CCE) is happy to support and promote equal learning opportunities as well as the United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut’s Day of Action by sponsoring this activity,” said Kim Silcox, director of the CCE at Eastern.

This event was part of an initiative recently started by United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut that has resulted in the creation of more than 1,500 literacy kits. These kits contain a children’s book and a thoughtful prop or activity handmade by individuals who volunteer to support education in the community. Volunteers created a variety of different items, including puppets, coloring activities, connect the dot activities, games and quizzes. Silcox remarked on the hard work of those making the kits, “The faculty and staff members who participated showed great creativity and effort, creating engaging and fun activities to support reading.”

As it stands, children from financially stable homes have the means to further their education during the summer while others are left behind, unfortunately creating a learning gap that continues to widen every year. Through the creation of these literacy kits, Eastern students, faculty and staff have begun to bridge the gap that currently exists between children from low-income and affluent families in the local community.