Bath Volunteers for Service

New Bath Volunteers for Service members have started their service project supporting children who receive services from ACCESS, a local nonprofit that serves women and children experiencing homelessness in the community.

Members looked to the Summit Education Initiative when deciding on the project, which works with Summit County schools to increase educational attainment of students.

Kids who have difficulty meeting or exceeding critical developmental milestones tend to fall behind unless there is intervention and support. One of SEI’s six transition points is that students read at or above grade level by third grade.

BVS members believe access to books is key to fostering reading skills and a love of books and knowledge. Many of the children who make their way to ACCESS are in turmoil and have arrived with little more than the clothes on their backs, let alone a book of their own. New BVS members will supply books to ACCESS that children can keep when their time at ACCESS ends.

Those who want to support the cause can find a list of SEI-suggested books at seisummit.org/16-for-success-3/. ACCESS also has an Amazon wish list for books to fill their library. Books purchased on Amazon can be delivered directly to ACCESS or a drop-off can be arranged. ∞