Serendipity made Emily Russell and her parents an ideal family to receive the 1,000th “Read to Your Bunny” kit since the program began slightly more than years ago.
Emily, who was born Tuesday morning, is the daughter of Emporians Trevor and Melanie Russell – and Melanie Russell is a reading teacher at Riverside Elementary School.
The point of the Read to Your Bunny program is to engender the habit of, and love for, reading. The program was begun formally on Aug. 21, 2007, when members of the sponsoring Emporia National Education Association handed the first “Welcome to the World” kit to the parents of Samantha Abigail Pankratz, daughter of Jason and Amber Pankratz. Samantha skipped to the front of the line early, when she was born before Joshua James Joplin, whose birth had for a time appeared imminent. Joshua is the son of Emily and Scott Joplin.
To read complete story see the print edition or the online print edition.