The Meridian Public School District Foundation of Excellence is teaming up with the Community Foundation of East Mississippi to host a giant reading fair Sunday, Sept. 29, on the Meridian City Hall Lawn to help encourage children to become better readers.

Described as a fun-filled event, the reading fair will seek to promote the importance of getting children interested in books and a love of reading at a young age with an overall goal of improving overall literacy rates throughout the community.

“With September being National Literacy Month, we thought it was important to remind people that reading is the most powerful tool to enhance one’s education,” said Neil Henry, president of the MPSD Foundation.

He said children should learn to love reading, but they also should learn to comprehend what they are reading. They need to learn the mechanics of reading — how to hold a book, where to start on the page, moving across from left to right and top to bottom on the page, the sounds the letters make to form words.

“Encouraging a love of reading at an early age can help motivate children to continue to want to read as they grow older,” Henry said.

On Sunday, organizers will be set up on the city hall lawn from 4-6 p.m. The Meridian High School drumline will be on hand performing, and Wally the Wildcat and the Meridian Public School District Wildcat Wagon will be present, he said.

Geared to elementary-aged students, children attending the event will be able to take home free books thanks to the Wildcat Wagon, the United Way of East Mississippi, the Mississippi Early Childhood Investment Council, the MPSD Foundation and Community Foundation of East Mississippi. Besides picture books for a younger audience, they also will have chapter books for upper elementary-age students.

“We are hoping to see a lot of kids, and we hope we’re going to pass out all of our books,” Henry said.

Also, children under age 5 will be able to sign up through the United Way’s representatives to participate in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program and receive a free monthly book until their fifth birthday, Henry said. Children must reside in Lauderdale, Neshoba and Kemper counties, or the Quitman School District to be eligible for the United Way program.

MPSD Foundation representatives also will be handing out fact sheets about literacy and the importance of school attendance. Henry said chronic absenteeism can lead to poor reading proficiency among students, especially on the third-grade reading test, and can play a role in high school drop out rates.

“Through this event … we are looking forward to making our community more aware of the importance of literacy and the role it plays not just in our young people’s lives but in the community,” Henry said.

Last year, the MPSD Foundation teamed up with the Meridian Housing Authority to conduct reading events at several MHA housing complexes aimed at encouraging children to become better readers. The foundation also funds grants to teachers in the Meridian school district to help purchase educational materials and supplies for their classrooms.

For more information about the MPSD Foundation and its goal, visit its website at mpsdfoundation.org or follow the foundation on Facebook.