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Storytellers (from left) Christina Maness, Kathleen Baker, Lisa Dees and
Tootie Hood hold the puppets they use to illustrate stories.
 Florence Gilkeson   


_Storytellers Brighten Day Care
 
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By Florence Gilkeson
 _Four storytellers, equipped with whimsical puppets and their own
imagination, will soon be spinning tales to brighten the eyes of youngsters in
day care facilities across the county. 
The Moore County Library is using a $25,000 grant from Smart Start to hire the
storytellers and supply equipment for these excursions in April, May and June,
according to Mark McGrath, library director. The program is being carried out
in cooperation with the Southern Pines Public Library.
 McGrath said the four storytellers would offer enriching sessions at as many
of the 160-plus day care facilities as they can reach in the remaining months
of this fiscal year.
 “I think we have employed four wonderful and motivated ladies,” McGrath told
The Pilot.” They have begun to become familiar with the Smart Start packets
that have been developed and will be planning to start their site visits by
early April.”
 The storytellers are Kathleen Baker of West End, Lisa Dees of Aberdeen,
Tootie Hood of Pinehurst and Christina Maness of Carthage.
 McGrath said they were selected from “many strong candidates” for the four
positions.
 “All four made wonderful presentations during their interviews,” McGrath
said. “Staff members from the Sandhill Regional Library and the county library
did their best to ask questions and interrupt each ‘audition’ as 4-year-old
little people, whom we were pretending to be,” McGrath said.
 The Smart Start packets include puppets as diverse as a llama, spiders, a
koala (complete with trailing eucalyptus) and the M “man.” The packets are
designed to entertain and educate children up to age 5 years.
 McGrath said the storytellers are making contact with day care centers to
schedule visits. Their services will be offered during the morning hours on
weekdays.
 “We want to stress that the enrichment we are offering is not only intended
for the children,” the library director said. “Smart Start has made this
commitment, in which they allow us to participate, so that we can help the
instructors in the day cares to broaden their knowledge of the resources
available to assist them in their most challenging profession.”
 McGrath said the day care instructors would be involved in the programs.
 “We are not a substitute for the providers with whom parents entrust their
young ones,” he said. “Our support is aimed at introducing a fresh perspective
through the use of one storytime packet that we present during our visit and
through the instructors’ follow-up use of the second packet that we will leave
for their use.”
 On their next visit, the storytellers will retrieve the package and repeat
the cycle. By this process, day care instructors will each be exposed to at
least 10 packets and will be introduced to the 100 packets available through
Smart Start funds at their local library. They will also have a chance to
exchange ideas on future programming for their students.
 The Moore County Library is mailing postcards to each day care facility to
suggest times and days for one of the storytellers to visit. Day care
personnel are asked to notify the library in Carthage (947-5335) between 8 and
8:30 a.m. or between 1 and 1:30 p.m. to discuss future story times for the
months of May and June. McGrath said this is the only time someone can be
available to adjust these schedules.
 Each of the storytellers comes with an impressive background.
 Tootie Hood, who lives in Pinehurst, has 22 years of experience as a teacher
and has also devoted time to tutoring and volunteer work.
 Christina (Christy) Maness has a varied background, including teaching in a
day care center. She has served as unit director in an Alzheimer’s facility
and as therapeutic recreation director in a 140-bed skilled nursing facility
and at a youth prison camp. She lives in Carthage.
 Kathleen Baker, whose home is in West End, is a retired teacher from western
New York state and has been active in children’s theater. She has worked in
the child guidance field and served on child study intervention teams. More
recently, she has served on a Safe School Committee.
 Lisa Dees holds a degree in early childhood development from the University
of Illinois. Her concentration was in the field of special needs children. She
moved to Moore County in October and resides in Aberdeen. She formerly worked
for Barnes &Noble in the First Book program.
 Partners for Children and Families, as the Moore County Smart Start program
is known, has provided more than $1 million in Smart Start funds to ensure the
readiness of children to enter kindergarten. This money is being used to
improve child care programs, to make sure child care is available to all
children needing this service, to deliver family support services and to
provide comprehensive health care and education.
 The library service is offered as part of the family support services, with
Sandhill Regional Library System and the Southern Pines Library serving as
partners.
 In the foundation’s first 18 months of service delivery in Moore County, the
several agencies (partners) have offered almost 14,500 enrichment
opportunities for preschool children. Partner agencies have assisted parents
more than 6,000 times and have offered guidance and aid to child care workers
on an estimated 4,200 occasions.
 The Moore County Library is part of the Sandhill Regional Library System,
which also serves Richmond, Anson, Hoke and Montgomery counties.