Parents as Teachers host Roll and Read on Sept. 17 at Payette library

The aim is to get youth going into kindergarten to show up ready to read and ready to learn, she said, and the program is working toward giving families those tools. They also have a home-visiting program for families who are expecting or have children age 5 and younger with some kind of a risk factor. Kennings explains that these are usually low income, disability, or some who are just seeking better education for their children.

“Unfortunately, Idaho doesn’t have the best education or graduation rate in the country," she said. "we’ve put a lot of dollars in the end result, but we need to put dollars back before school starts."

As such, the group works to host a public event once a month in which families are invited to come out and do something.

For Saturday’s event, Kennings said their will be stations set up with stories being read from first responders and experts in various fields, such as fire and police books. 

Readers will be bringing their respective work vehicles. This includes the Payette County Sheriff, members of local fire departments and, Kennings said, there also will be a garbage truck there.

Then, books will be given away. Furthermore, there are an entire range of books, including ones for toddlers, babies (chewable and waterproof), young adults and adults.

The books are from a Book it Forward program, for which funding was received before the pandemic.

“They gave us tons of books and we still have tons,” Kennings said.

The grant funds that paid for the books were allocated through the Idaho Legislature well before the pandemic, she explained.

“In fact, Sen. Abby Lee was really instrumental in getting those funds out,” Kennings said. “She knew when and how to ask and she got the funds out the the health districts in 2015.”

While promoting reading, Parents as Teachers further engage youth with the opportunity to interact with the first responders and check out the vehicles, have a snack while they’re at it, then head home with free books.

This is the second time Parents as Teachers has hosted such an event in Payette, according to Kennings who said the last one was within the past two or three years.