Bates and USM/LA to sponsor Martin Luther King Jr. "read-in"

In recognition of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and to celebrate multiculturalism and diversity in a local community school, the Bates College Center for Service-Learning and the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College (LAC) will co-sponsor a “read-in” by faculty, staff and students for grades 4-6 at 2:15 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 18, and Wednesday, Jan. 19, at Martel Elementary School on Lisbon Street in Lewiston. In case the schools close due to inclement weather, snow days for the “read in” will be 2:15 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 25, and Wednesday, Jan. 26.

Volunteers will read one-on-one or in small groups to students for approximately 30 minutes. Volunteers will then distribute the books, each with a civil rights or African-American history theme, to every child as a memento of the day, according to “read-in” coordinator Amy Keith, an AmeriCorps*VISTA member at both Bates and LAC.