Ferst Readers celebrates local young authors at annual fundraiser

The Polk County College and Career Academy in recent days played host for a group who are helping to improve literacy in youth across the country, but the organization also took the opportunity to applaud the efforts of young authors in local schools.

Ferst Readers of Polk County held their annual fundraising event to ensure that children from birth to age 6 are able to get access to age-appropriate books on a monthly basis, but that wasn’t the only focus of their Sweet Treats and Young Authors event on May 7 at Cedartown High School’s campus in the HON Room.

They were also there to provide a group of youth the opportunity to showcase their own writings. Encouragement needed for youth to continue to improve their own literacy.

Young Georgia Author winners were celebrated during a Ferst Readers event on Sunday, May 7.

This year’s Young Georgia Authors contestants honored at the event included:

Kindergarten: Ashlyn Hancock
First Grade: Tucker Smith
Second Grade: Julianna Cruz
Third Grade: Daniela Guzman
Fourth Grade: Halen Benton
Fifth Grade: Abbie Lumpkin
Sixth Grade: Tupelo Cooper
Seventh Grade: Dayana Reynoso
Eighth Grade: Addison Roach
Ninth Grade: Madison Duke
Tenth Grade: Addison Blalock
Eleventh Grade: Journey Pollard
Twelfth Grade: Brandon Deems

The Sweet Treats portion of the event focused on one aspect of their previous annual fundraiser, An Afternoon with Authors: the silent cake auction.

Local author and educator Jon Coley was a featured guest at the Ferst Readers event on Sunday, May 7.

Polk County Author and educator at Eastside Elementary Jon Coley was also on hand for the event this year. He came along with copies of several of his books written for young readers in the fourth through sixth grades, going for humor and jokes in his novels in the tween genres.

As of March 2023, the organization that took a hit during COVID had sent out 450 books a month. They got to a height of sending out 1,381 books to local youth thanks to donations made by the community. It costs around $40 a year per child to send out the books to their home.

Community support is their main fundraising source, but local organizations and the Polk School District have also made contributions.

Ferst Readers are able to make much of this happen thanks to support from volunteers who make up the organization in Polk County, statewide and throughout the nation. Their goal is to continue to raise the literacy rates in children and engage parents in their child’s individual education over the course of their young lives.