By Noelle Kronberg
EAGLE TIMES CORRESPONDENT
CLAREMONT, N.H. — The local Elk Lodge’s Grant Committee, chaired by Claremont’s Tina Bergeron, has applied for and received four Elks’ National Foundation grants this year.
The Freedom Grant and Spotlight Grant, totaling $3,000, are used on programming for Veterans, including cooking classes and welcome home baskets. The remaining two grants, the Beacon Grant and the Gratitude Grant, totaling $6,000, are used primarily for youth and children in the local community.
The Elks collaborate with school social workers and guidance counselors to determine families that would benefit from Christmas food baskets and kids’ Christmas party which are funded by the Beacon Grant.
The Gratitude Grant is split on multiple projects, including the local storytime. “We have run this program for a few years. It started before COVID and we had a pretty great group that would join us but then we stopped because of the pandemic. We have been doing it now for seven months and hoping to get a good group coming again,” said Bergeron, who also is a parent in the community.
Children take turns choosing four picture books read by an Elks volunteer, while they enjoy snacks and drinks provided by the lodge. The stories represent a variety of topics and include some newly published books, such as The Couch Potato, part of a series from New York Times bestselling authors Jory John and Pete Oswald. This particular story received laughter from both children and adults.
After the hour is up, all children in attendance get to select 3 free books to take home. The books are purchased with the grant and include books for all ages- from board books for infants and toddlers, to chapter books for older readers.
The storytime takes place once a month at the Claremont Elks Lodge at 54 Summer St., at the corner of Pleasant Street. The next one will be on Aug. 27 at 11 a.m.
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