By Ryan Smith
Meadville Tribune
VERNON TOWNSHIP —
Want to help area students dive into the pages of their local newspaper? Just go to the Meadville Area Recreation Complex today and get all wet.
The Meadville Tribune’s eighth annual Family Fun Day — the yearly celebration that helps keep Crawford County classrooms well-stocked with free copies of the newspaper throughout the school year — is today from noon to 4 p.m. at the MARC.
Along with a chance to kick off the summer season by enjoying the MARC’s swimming pools, volleyball courts and other amenities, those who join the fun are also eligible for a variety of prizes and give-aways. COOL 101.7 radio is also going to be there with a live remote broadcast.
General admission for Family Fun Day is $4 per person. For each general admission paid, the MARC is donating $1 to the Tribune’s Newspapers in Education program.
“The most important thing is our children are being educated” through the partnership, said Chris Nuzback, assistant director of the MARC.
Children under 42 inches tall (3 feet, 6 inches) are admitted for $1 when they’re accompanied by a general admission-paying adult, and a “spectator” fee of $1 is offered to adults who don’t want to participate in any activities at the pool and/or volleyball courts.
In its past years, Family Fun Day has raised hundreds of dollars for the local NIE program that puts thousands of papers into the hands of local students each week, according to Tribune Circulation Director Devon Stout. And for every single dollar put toward NIE, eight newspapers are made available to schools, he said.
“We put more than 500 papers a day into local schools,” Stout said. “Teachers are using them in their classrooms from pre-school all the way up to high school,” and even at the college level, for a wide range of applications that offer students a “stronger connection to what’s going on” in their own hometowns and in the world beyond.
“It’s important for young people to understand what’s going on,” said COOL 101.7 owner and General Manager Joe Vilkie, so “it’s a great thing for students to be able to see the newspaper and have newspapers at their disposal. ...I enjoyed it when I was at school.”
Nationally, the concept now known as NIE dates to the 1930s, when a few newspapers, including The New York Times, sponsored similar programs that included the delivery of newspapers free of charge.
Such programs grew — and grew — over the decades, and active NIE projects nationwide numbered at more than 850 by the end of the 1990s.
And today, almost 40 percent of all public school students in the United States are making use of newspapers delivered through more than 950 NIE programs. More than 94 percent of newspapers in the United States with circulations of more than 15,000 have active NIE programs.
In addition to Family Fun Day at the MARC, funding for the Tribune’s NIE effort is provided by corporate and individual donors, as well as participants in the Tribune’s baby and cutest pet contests.
The Meadville Tribune’s eighth annual Family Fun Day — the yearly celebration that helps keep Crawford County classrooms well-stocked with free copies of the newspaper throughout the school year — is today from noon to 4 p.m. at the Meadville Area Recreational Complex.
Those who join the fun are eligible for a variety of prizes and give-aways, and COOL 101.7 radio is also going to be there with a live remote broadcast.
General admission for is $4 per person. For each general admission paid, the MARC is donating $1 to the Tribune’s Newspapers in Education program.
Teachers or homeschooling parents who want to participate in The Meadville Tribune’s Newspapers in Education program — or anyone willing to contribute financial support — should contact Tribune Circulation Director Devon Stout by phone at 724-6370 or by e-mail at dstout@meadvilletribune.com.
Ryan Smith can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at rsmith@meadvilletribune.com.
