WWU faculty, staff, students reach out to children at local migrant farm-worker camp

Western students and faculty helped connect toddlers with board books and elementary schoolers with their favorite chapter books on Wednesday night as Circulo de Manos gave away approximately 700 donated children’s books to children who live at a migrant farmworker camp in Lynden. 

Children gathered around the boxes of donated books and screamed with delight at finding their favorite stories. Bearing armloads of stories so high they could barely see over them, kids sat on the ground and began turning pages or listened to Woodring students read stories aloud.

Recent Woodring grad and certified reading specialist Megan Shea, who has volunteered with the Circulo de Manos (Circle of Hands) program for two years, sorted the books according to reading level before they reached the camp. Once there, Western student volunteers helped children choose books appropriate for their reading level.

Each child was able to take home 10-20 books, which was far more than Journalism Assistant Professor and Circulo Program Coordinator Carolyn Nielsen envisioned in June, when she sent out a single e-mail asking friends, Western colleagues and parents at her children’s schools for donations of gently used children’s books. Books began pouring in from Woodring, Western faculty and staff, Bellingham School District teachers and her friends and neighbors.

The student volunteers are primarily Woodring elementary ed majors; those from TESOL Director Trish Skillman’s class have used the opportunity to fulfill their volunteering requirement. Also helping out with the program this summer are Western students Sarah Anderson, Amy Grambo, Rachel Phillips, Tiffany Mulford, Brigid Slinger, Luke Henkel, Marjorie Farquar, Danyela Newton, Brook Landers, Lindsay Otta and Keegan Prosser, as well as Western alumnae Lindsay Hamsik and Kim Sutherland.

Circulo, begun as a Girl Scouts project and headed for years by WWU Transportation Services program assistant Wendy Crandall, brings arts, crafts, games and fun to the children every Wednesday evening during the summer. Crandall has kept the program alive with donations from the Bellingham Roller Betties and handed the role of coordinator to Nielsen two years ago. Nielsen connected to the Western community to find student (and faculty and staff) volunteers. As well, Nielsen has brought along some of her journalism students and Psychology Associate Professor Jennifer Devenport.

The future teachers take turns leading the night’s activities and helping out. The program runs from 5:45 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. each Wednesday night beginning in July and continuing through the end of the harvest season in August. Many of the volunteers are bilingual, but speaking Spanish is not a requirement for volunteering. The children and parents speak Spanish, English and indigenous languages.

Anyone interested in volunteering with Circulo de Manos or donating books should contact Carolyn Nielsen via e-mail: Carolyn.nielsen@wwu.edu.

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