Laundry, we all do it. In fact, the average household washes
7.4 loads—about 50 pounds of laundry per week. Together, U.S. consumers wash
more than 660 million loads per week, or about 35 billion wash loads per year,
totaling 100 million tons of clothes. Research finds that the average
laundromat visit takes two to two-and-a-half hours, and many families bring
their children along. This makes laundry time a valuable time to engage parents
and children in early learning and development activities.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, developing
early literacy skills makes it easier for children to learn to read, and children
who enter Kindergarten with these skills possess an advantage that carriers
with them throughout their entire schooling. However, more than 1 in 3 American
Children start Kindergarten without the skills they need to learn to read.
ACCORD’s Outreach committee organized the Kid’s Reading
Corner to provide greater opportunities to deliver high-quality early literacy
resources and outreach directly into local self-service Laundromats within our
local communities. Ashley Elias, ACCORD’s Outreach Committee Chair stated, “The
idea was first brought to the table by Outreach member, Brenda Norton” she
continued “Everyone loved the idea and instantly recognized it would be a great
way to connect with families and provide our local resources”
The first launch of the ACCORD’s Kid’s Reading Corner was
made possible by Mike Raptis at the Rub-A-Dub Coin Laundry located in
Wellsville’s Municipal parking lot. “The Wellsville Rotary Club already had
established bookshelves and books at the location, so we built off that and
provided the space with a kid’s table, alphabet rug, and an additional book
shelf stocked with books. We understand the importance of literacy and
education and recognize that many families within our local communities spend a
fair amount of time at the laundry mat which may also lead to them being
connected to electronics. By providing the resources, we hope families will
take the opportunity to trade the electronics for quality reading time” added
Elias.
If you are interested in hosting space for an ACCORD Kid’s
Reading Corner, please contact Ashley Elias, Data & Quality Improvement
Manager at aelias@accordcorp.org or 585-268-7605, ext. 1240.
