Time for tea with teddy bears

Click to Enlarge Christy Lattin • LVN photo Bears of all sizes crowded into the library for last year's Teddy Bear Tea. This year's event will take place on Saturday, and decorated bears will be accepted until 5 p.m. Friday. Browse and Buy Lahontan Valley News Photos

CHRISTY LATTIN
CHRISTY LATTIN, clattin@lahontanvalleynews.com
April 30, 2008, 12:05 AM

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While summer is less than a couple months away for students, the fundraiser for the Churchill County Library's summer reading program will be held this weekend.

The popular Teddy Bear Tea, which draws dozens of well-dressed bears, will be held Saturday at the library from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Registration for the bears started Monday and will close Friday at 5 p.m. The registration fee for each bear is $5, with a $3 fee for any additional bear entered by the same person.

Joyce Betts, children's librarian at the library, said she received the first five bears Wednesday afternoon and is expecting a majority of the bears to come in on Friday afternoon.

The bears will be judged Friday evening and the results revealed Saturday afternoon. Judges this year are the three county commissioners and Doty Brown from the library association.

Betts said the library needs at least $6,000 to fund the summer reading program, which drew 400 children last year. To date, the library has $1,700 earmarked for the program but could definitely use more, Betts said. The money is used to fund the weekly awards of books and grab bag items children receive.

The CC Communications Independent Telecommunications Pioneer Association has partnered with the library for the last four years to help organize the Teddy Bear Tea to raise funds for the popular program.

Dawn Ballard, a member of the phone company's volunteer non-profit organization, said they sent letters to local businesses requesting prizes and donations and assists with set-up and break-down of the large teddy bear displays. The organization also supplies flyers for the schools to hand out to students and provides the refreshments for tea. Students from the Juvenile Probation program will assist this year with set up and break down.

"The Teddy Bear Tea is a fun fundraiser to promote literacy, and we are committed to helping," Ballard said. "Once we are done with this community event we will begin raising funds for Relay for Life and then it will be time to start thinking about the Wishing Tree."

The reading program begins June 9 and runs through August 15. Children participating in the program are expected to read at least one-half hour every day. Young children, or non-readers, can listen a half hour each day. Participants will keep a log of time spent reading, which is signed by their parents and turned into the library each week for awards.

Prizes in the past have ranged from books to food and pizza certificates, swimming passes or rolling skating passes. Betts said the program is looking for more prizes if local businesses are interested in donating.

A five-disc CD player will be raffled at the conclusion of the Teddy Bear Tea. Tickets can be purchased for $1 each or six for $5. Another raffle will be held in the coming weeks to raise more funds for the summer reading program.

For more information on the Teddy Bear Tea or the summer reading program, contact Joyce Betts at 423-7581.