The Stratford Library Children’s Department recently offered a series of special events and projects specifically sponsored by the Carol Pieper Memorial Fund.
Carol Pieper was a former librarian and Stamford resident who died in 2003. She was a graduate of the Greenwood School and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in library science from Towson University. Her son, Dr. Louis B. Pieper Jr. of Stratford, made a significant donation in his mother’s memory in 2008 that resulted primarily in the design and construction of the Children’s Department’s current Book Nook. Dr. Pieper, in making the contribution explained, “My mother instilled in all her children – her own and all who came under her tutelage — that books and the written word will open your life and the world to its greatest potential.”
Stratford siblings Sofia and Stephen Calzone with puppy friend at the Stratford Libarary.
In 2014, Dr. Pieper made an additional donation that was designated for new books, tutoring classes, various reading programs and animal-related events. In “Read Around Stratford” children have been taken to different locations around Stratford including Atria Assisted Living, Academy Hill, Goody Bassett’s Ice Cream Shoppe and Icing on the Cake Bakery among many others. Children who read at least 1,000 pages were treated to a celebration party at the Library this month.
The Library’s new Tutoring program is well underway with six trained high school teen volunteers paired up with elementary age children in need of extra help with Math and English. Both teens and children benefit from the program which the Library plans to expand in the Fall. Animal-related programs included a “Critter Caravan” held last February and popular dogs, Siena and Drago, still visit the Stratford Library on a monthly basis so children can read to them. Dr. Pieper has endorsed all the new programs his donation has made possible. “I hope others in the community will help to support the Library, one of Stratford’s finest resources,” he added.
For more information about the Carol Pieper Memorial Fund and related activities, call the Children’s Department of the Stratford Library at 203-385-4165 or visit stratfordlibrary.org.
The Read Around Stratford Kids celebrate reading 1,000 pages as part of the program recently.
Stratford youngster Nathan Carrano reads with two local residents at Atria Assisted Living as part of the Stratford Library’s Read Around Stratford program.
Riley Cook-Jimenez of Stratford at Sterling House as part of Read Around Stratford.