HOULTON, Maine — Youngsters from Houlton Elementary School were able to take home a free book Tuesday morning as part of the Daigle Oil Company’s effort to support National Reading Month.
Daigle Oil, which serves as a marketer for CITGO Petroleum Corporation, donated 1,500 books to area schools in Aroostook County in support of National Reading Month. Company officials also visited Pine Street Elementary School in Presque Isle on March 12 and planned to visit Ashland District School and Fort Kent Elementary School on March 19 and 20 respectively.
According to Maggy McCarthy, coordinator for the event, the goal is to promote children’s literacy in school’s across northern Maine. In addition to the books, employees from DOC’s Place CITGO locations and Daigle Oil volunteered their time to read to various Pre-K and first grade classes throughout Aroostook County.
The books are provided by Bess the Book Bus, a mobile literacy outreach program, that works to provide children in underserved communities with access to new books.
Leslie Ross, Daigle Oil customer service representative at the Houlton office, and Alayna Acott, assistant manager of the North Street Citgo in Houlton, were guest readers at Houlton Elementary School on March 12.
In celebration of Read Across America month and Dr. Seuss’s birthday, CITGO/Doc’s Give Back to the Community program partnered with Bess the Book Bus to provide all students in Pre-K, kindergarten, and 1st grade a free book. About 300 students enjoyed hearing a story and then selected their own book to take home at HES.
Freelance writer Karen Donato contributed to this article.
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- First grade students, Felicity Nadeau, left, and Lea McCluskey who are in Sarah Estabrook’s class at Houlton Elementary School, look through a variety of books provided by Daigle Oil Company and the CITGO corporation. They each selected one to take home on March 12. (Courtesy of Karen Donato)
