Record Number of Families Sign Up for Free PJ Library Program
by
JewishInStLouis.org
September 08, 2008
Lenore Schuff is a grandmother who does marketing and software training for a firm in Clayton. When she’s not working, she babysits on Saturdays for her two grandchildren, Ian and Emma. When they come over, she has a routine. They cuddle up on the sofa and Lenore reads to them from children’s books she received free for one year through PJ Library. Each book has a Jewish theme.
Lenore is one of the record-breaking numbers of St. Louisans who signed up for the first year of the PJ Library Program, a joint program of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis and the Saul Brodsky Jewish Community Library. Now in year two, the program has expanded to include 7 year olds. From June 07-08, some 1,060 kids were signed up by parents and grandparents.
The PJ (as in pajamas) Library Program is made possible by St. Louisans Leslie and Michael Litwack, who gave a generous gift to the program through Jewish Federation, which is also funded, in part, by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation of Springfield, Mass.
To stay in the program, Lenore will renew her subscription, a $60 value that will cost her just $18 for year two. The other $42 will be picked up by a Litwack subsidy. Fee includes costs of books and/or CDs, printing of parental reading guides and shipping. St. Louis is one of 75 communities offering the program to 26,000 children throughout the country aged 6 months…now through 7 years of age.
PJ Library is a great intergenerational opportunity for kids and their parents or grandparents to learn more about their Jewish heritage together and to deepen their sense of Jewish identity. “Our daughter, Abby Kilgore, MD, and her husband Eric, who is not Jewish and runs his own business, are very busy and live in Wentzville. There is little time in their schedules to be involved in a synagogue. I read about the PJ Library program and thought, ‘What a great idea.’ It gives the kids a connection to the religion their mother grew up with at Kol Am, and some day, hopefully, they’ll be involved in Judaism too.”
After Lenore signed Ian up last year, he was invited to a Hanukkah party and storytime at the Brodsky Library. “It was a great experience that gives Ian an additional taste of Judaism.” Lenore just enrolled Emma in the PJ Library Program for the first time.
Reading to Ian and Emma at such a young age establishes good memories. “Little kids’ minds are like sponges and Ian has a memory that’s out of this world. Not only do we read to the kids, we reinforce what’s in the books by taking Ian and Emma with us to functions at our temple and in the Jewish community. We talk about the fact that Judaism is more than a religion; it’s a culture and a mindset. We want Ian and his sister to know that Judaism is a choice for how they might want to live their lives when they get older.”
Families may sign up for the first time or renew via the PJ Library website at www.pjlibrary.org