Live Oak Public Libraries announces receipt of a $75,000 bequest from the estate of Mary Carolyn Stewart.

The donation will be used to scale up the system's Ready to Read Centers and corresponding programming, materials, training and interactive workshops.

According to her nephew, Mr. Dell Schell of North Carolina, Ms. Stewart read an article that tied low adult literacy to higher crime rates. She decided then and there to bequeath money to Live Oak Public Libraries.

Ms. Stewart passed away in October, 2023. An Ohio native, she retired to Savannah about 25 years ago, after a long career as a pediatric nurse and then as a Medicare fraud investigator covering the Eastern United States. Ms. Stewart resided for many years on Skidaway Island and was a devoted community volunteer.

"This gift from the estate of Mary Stewart was unexpected but so timely,” said Lola DeWitt, Executive Director of Live Oak Public Libraries. "We receive public funding for general operations and collections, so private gifts and grants to the library are essential to allow us to offer services and materials that go beyond the basics, like our annual Summer Reading Challenge activities and the Ready to Read Centers.

"We want to create Ready to Read Centers systemwide because a public library is the community’s most accessible and reliable resource for pre-kindergarten children and their families," DeWitt continued. "We believe literacy is an essential skill that improves quality of life and we are working to help parents and caregivers to get children ready to read, and ready for kindergarten."

Live Oak Public Libraries launched its first Ready to Read Centers in five branches this spring. Centers are located at the Bull Street, Hinesville, Islands, Springfield and Southwest Chatham libraries. Fifteen circulating branches have decodable books in circulation for patron check out.

The Ready to Read Center concept aligns LOPL programming, material and youth services with the way public school systems today are approaching early literacy.

"Our next big push is to find funding to purchase mobile libraries," DeWitt said. "We know there are large swaths of our three-county area where it is hard for people to visit a physical library. We want to bring the library to them!

"When he heard about our plans for the Ready to Read Centers, Mr. Schell said it will be good to see the monies used in a way that Mary intended. Countless young readers and their families will benefit from her generosity. We intend to make Ms. Stewart and Mr. Schell proud," DeWitt said with a smile.