Diane Danielson, Palmerton Area Library director, held a spinner and each child of the Summer Reading Program took a turn spinning it.

If it landed on the United States, that child sat at the US table. If it landed on the Europe space, that child sat at the European table. The third space was for Ethiopia and that child sat at the Ethiopian table.Then Danielson gave each table a plate with M & Ms. The U.S. table got lots of M & Ms. The European table, not quite as much and the Ethiopian table's plate didn't have enough for each child.She poured a handful of rice in one child's hand from the Ethiopian table and said that would be all the food he would receive for the day, pointing out how children in other countries are suffering from not enough food.Danielson asked everyone if they thought it was fair that the Ethiopians got so few M & Ms and so little food compared to the others and the children all voiced the answer "No." Then she asked the U.S. table how they felt and some of them said they felt bad for the poor countries and they wanted to share their M & Ms with them. Which they did.Danielson asked them how they could help the other countries who didn't receive enough food to feed their people. Some offered suggestions, like sharing our food with other countries.Danielson introduced a book to the children titled "Beatrice's Goat" by Page McBrier. It's a story of a young girl's dream of attending school in her small Ugandan village and her dream is fulfilled after her family is given an income-producing goat. It is based on a true story about Beatrice and the work of Heifer International. The children watched a short video presentation from a segment of the television show "60 Minutes" featuring Beatrice and how today she is a freshman in college, all because of the gift of one goat.The goat provided milk which improved her family's health and they sold the rest of the milk. The goat had twins and the family sold them. It enabled Beatrice to go to school and the family got a new house with a tin roof.After college, Beatrice wants to start a school in her country so others like her can receive an educationHeifer International is a nonprofit organization working to end hunger and poverty and save the earth through gifts of farm animals and training. Over the course of sixty years, Heifer has helped 4.5 million people striving for self-reliance in 128 countries, including the United States.When Heifer International provides an animal to a family, their health and standard of living is improved by what the animal can provide. Danielson explained that a family can get milk from a cow or a goat, eggs from poultry, a water buffalo can plow fields, wool can come from sheep and llamas, meat from pigs. The family that receives one of these animals is asked to pass on the gifts from these animals to another family in need. If there is offspring from the animal, they are asked to pass it on also.Danielson told the children that the library will be participating in a Read to Feed program this summer and hope to raise enough money to buy an animal for someone like Beatrice and her family. The cost of one goat is $120.Read to Feed is a reading incentive service-learning program that offers global education opportunities and will foster in children a love for reading, a passion to help others and a way to help create a better world."We're asking the children to get sponsors to pay them so much for every book they read. There is no set amount for sponsorship. People can also make a flat donation to the program if they want to help the kids buy an animal for the Heifer program. At the end of July we will count up the money collected and let the kids decide what to purchase. I know one little girl has her heart set on buying a llama, I'm not sure why. They are really into the program and I'm excited to see how they do with it," says Danielson. She noted that 111 children attended the first day of the Summer Reading Program.If anyone would like to help the library reach its goal, please sponsor someone you know who is attending the summer reading program (every Friday at 10:30 a.m. for children K-6th grade) or bring in your donation to the library before July 29, the last day of the program. It is located at 402 Delaware Avenue Palmerton, Pennsylvania 18071. You can phone 610-826-3424 or email

plapalm@ptd.net for more information. The library is open Mondays and Tuesdays, 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturdays 9 a.m.-1 p.m. It is closed on Sundays.