WILTON — Twelve youngsters from both Cushing and Academy Hill Schools were rewarded for their reading efforts with a brand new bicycle Friday.
Wilton Lodge #156 went to the schools in April to offer the Mason’s Bikes for Books program to local students.
For each book read or read to them, they could submit their name for today’s drawing, Robert Holmes, committee chairman, said. One girl and one boy bike was given to students in Kindergarten through grade five.
“I needed a new bike cause my chain keeps falling off,” Joscyr Bunnell, first grade winner, said.
He read 15 books giving him 15 chances to win.
Both librarians Rhonda Schanck and Amanda Walz reminded students that their chances of winning were better the more they read so they could submit their names more times.
They also reminded students that it was okay to feel sad if they didn’t win but they also needed to be happy for those who did.
Although the Bikes for Books program has been offered through Lodges throughout the country over the last few years, this was the Wilton Lodge’s first experience, Richard Lumb, lodge master, said.
“We want to expand it next year,” he said of an earlier start in January. The Lodge will also consider partnering with the Farmington Lodge to provide for other schools in the district.
The Maine Grand Lodge provided helmets to go with each bike and Masons are given a good deal on the shiny new Huffy bikes. They raised funds from member donations to purchase the bikes, Holmes said.
Students at Academy Hill had to write a few lines about what the book they read was about making entries a little more difficult, Walz said. That didn’t stop them from reading a grand total of 183 books. The girls read 107 books and the boys 76, she said.
At Cushing School, 42 out of 96 students participated. They read a total of 420 books, Kindergarten read 141 books and first graders read 279.
Aside from the bike winners, top readers who participated included:
Kindergarten-
Alyssa Parker-13 books
Taylor Rand-12 books
Riley Hall-35 books
Mason Tyler-16 books
1st Grade-
Owen Wallace-68 books
Abby Farrington-47 books
Joscyr Bunnell-27 books
Chloe Maberry-20 Books
Nathalie Baker-19 books
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