Over 50 babies are born each month at Kona Community Hospital. Thanks to F.O.L.K. and our partners, all are sent home with a new board book. The purpose is to encourage new parents to read to their children.

Parents are a child's first and most important teacher and the best time to begin reading to a child is when he or she is an infant. Babies learn about spoken language when they hear family members talking, laughing, and singing and they learn about written language when they hear stories and see family members reading.

With the Books for Babies program parents are given the tools to nurture literacy. Over 400 board books and informational brochures are distributed each year. This project is in partnership with the Kona ELKS Lodge.

Reading aloud to children has been called the single most important activity for building the knowledge needed for success in reading.  We are proud to support our community in this way.