by Jody Spear and Kelly Meyer –
MASON CITY – To celebrate Children’s Book Week at the Mason City Library, Kellie Jensen, Children’s Services Librarian, invited Fire Chief Bob Platts and Police Chief Mike Lashbrook to the Library for a special event of Story Time for children.
Chief Platts read to the children Monday night. “There was about forty people here Monday,” said Jensen. “Chief Platts was great with the kids and the kids loved him being here.”
Jensen went on to say, “All little kids want to grow up to be firemen or policemen, they’re community heroes, so it’s really nice to have Chief Platts and Chief Lashbrook here.”
Wednesday morning, Chief Lashbrook started off reading the book “Five Little Monkey’s Reading in Bed” and then he read “The Police Cloud.” He did a very good job and the children were all ears.
After Chief Lashbrook was done, the children were asked if they wanted to get their picture taken with him. Some were excited and ran right to him, others were shy and stayed back a bit.
“It was fun.” said the Chief with a big smile, “It’s nice to do something different, something with the kids. I was really surprised at the turnout. There were more than I expected.”
When asked about if he was nervous, Lashbrook said, “I was nervous, but it’s easier when there’s a script.”
The book, “Five Little Monkey’s Reading in Bed”, is going to be given away to one lucky little boy or girl this week. They were asked to put their name in for the drawing.
The Mason City Public Library’s 2012 Summer Reading Program is June 11th thru July 20th. Registration begins June 4th. There will be stories, crafts, prizes and more.
Watch video:
Please do not use the term firemen or policemen. Use fire fighters and police officers. Women can do the job as well as men and both departments have females working there. They do a very good job also. Thank you.
@ Jamey, and they call me a Troll. This was good coverage of a positive event in Mason City.
The usage of the words policemen and firemen in the article was a “quote” by the libraries children’s services director… not NIT’s writers.
Again, kudo’s to the Chiefs and anyone else who volunteers to work with the children to encourage them to read, learn or be whatever they put their minds too.
It is nice to have a story on here with a positive message behind it. Get informed, get educated and get involved… now that makes a great news story.
I have enjoyed the times when I have volunteered to work with kids through reading books to/with them.
Kudos to the two Chiefs.
View more photos here,Thank You!
http://public.fotki.com/Meyer-SpearPhotos/communityheros/community-heros/