Yearly gift sets in motion great things

Even though she left the neighborhood decades ago,

Rozanne Ridgway’s annual gift honors her mother

By JAN WILLMS

Besides giving them life, Ethel Ridgway gave her three children the gift of reading. And since 1998, her daughter Rozanne Ridgway has been passing that gift along to children through a grant in honor of her mother.

In spite of the fact that Ridgway has lived in Washington, DC, for many years, she has not forgotten the neighborhood she grew up in. The Hamline graduate served 32 years with the State Department in many capacities, including being an ambassador to East Germany and Finland, and ending her career as an Assistant Secretary of State of European and Canadian Affairs.

“Every year she gives the Hamline Midway Library money so we can buy books for students at the Hamline Elementary School,” said Sam Ryan, a library associate. “This is a book that the students get to keep. The gift is given to Friends of the St. Paul Public Library, and they in turn pass it on to us.”

Ryan said the funding is somewhat flexible but has to be used for literacy-related programs. He said the grant has allowed the Hamline Midway Library,1558 W. Minnehaha, to purchase a children’s PC with learning games on it and a circulating selection of Big Books. “Mainly, we use the grant for books,” he said. “What we don’t use by giving away to Hamline Elementary, we give away to Galtier School later in the year. And we buy books for a summer reading program that is city-wide.”

Ryan said he has been at Hamline Midway Library for five years, and it has been a little different using the grant every year.

“Typically, we contact Hamline Elementary towards the end of the school year so that we can either have the students, in K-2 classes, visit us or we go over there. Along with giving a book and talking about the importance of reading and an explanation of why we’re giving the book and a little bit about the history of Rozanne Ridgway, we use the time to talk about the library,” Ryan explained.

“We want to implant in their minds what they can do at a library and ask them about their favorite things to do there,” Ryan said. “We show them how they can get a library card and ask them if they know what libraries are close to their house. We also tell them the library is a place they can go to in the summer. The summer reading program is an initiative where we are encouraging reading and keeping track of what is being read. There are activities they can check off on a list.”

Ryan said the teachers also encourage their students to use the library over the summer. “That’s a time when a lot of students will go into summer slide,” he smiled.

He said that this year Hamline Elementary contacted the library early because the children were doing a Read-A-Thon, and teachers wondered if they could receive books a little early to mesh with the Read-A-Thon. Also, they were celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday.

“So we brought the books, and the teachers picked a Dr. Seuss book specifically for their classes, and we ordered those books,” Ryan continued.

Rhonda Simonson, who teaches kindergarten at Hamline Elementary, said the students read the Ridgway-purchased books the last two weeks in February. Each child got to take home his or her own book at the end of February.

“The Read-A-Thon lasted for two weeks, beginning on March 2, Dr. Seuss’ birthday,” Simonson said. She said that each child was given a packet and asked to raise money for a school-wide Artist Residency and Apps for IPads. The Parent Teachers Organization (PTO) organized the fundraiser, and families could get sponsors for minutes read or give a lump sum.

Simonson said she gave her kindergarteners their forms, with a lump sum $1 pledge. They were instructed to put the form on their fridge and mark off how many minutes they had read. They drew more pledges, and 90 per cent of her students returned their reading forms, raising enough money to turn in $270 from their class. The class had read over 3000 minutes in two weeks.

“The PTO surpassed its goal and raised over $2, 000,” Simonson said. “The PK-second grade rooms where Ridgway had given books were the biggest contributors.”

Simonson said the kids do get excited about receiving a free book, especially a hard-cover.

“I am a teacher, but most importantly I am a mom. I took my kids to the library for a stack of books weekly and enforced a quiet reading time daily all summer,” Simonson said. “My children are grown-ups and they still love to read.”

Simonson said she told her students every day of the Read-A-Thon that Ridgway believed in them becoming great readers. “She bought you a book because she wants you to read. She knows that reading matters.”

Jessica Kopp, a parent with a daughter in the first grade at Hamline Elementary, also knows that reading matters.

“At some point last year she came home with a book,” Kopp related. “I had no idea where it came from, and I thought it was something her teacher gave her. This year I became more aware of the source of the book. She brought home a Dr. Seuss, and I said okay, I know where this comes from.”

“My daughter loves to read, and I just thought it was so wonderful that there’s a person who doesn’t even live in the neighborhood anymore but at some point thought enough of where she had lived to give that gift,” said Kopp.

She said her daughter loves to read. “She likes disaster books about earthquakes and tornados, and she loves mysteries. After she reads them, she likes to pretend she is a detective.”

Kopp said she is very grateful for this grant. “I always think the neighborhood kids go to school knowing someone is thinking of them. It’s nice to be in the world and know someone is thinking of you who maybe doesn’t even know you.”

She said she hopes that the children can get the idea they could be that person on the giving end someday. “Maybe it won’t be books, but there might be something else they can give back to their neighborhood.”