Fortunately Cortland County has a wide variety of food supports available if you know where to look. For a comprehensive list of food pantries and meal programs in the County visit www.211cortland.org/food where you will find a full list of programs, a calendar of open hours for pantries and meal services, details on how to order the monthly Food Sense box at significantly discounted prices, and a downloadable pantry and meal programs list and map. You can also click on the image to the right to open and download the PDF version.

Catholic Charities also offers a summer program with free lunches available at a variety of sites in the County for youth ages 18 and under. Although there are no Homer sites, if youth in Homer School District are able to get to another site they can still eat for free.

Use the BOOK IT!® Mobile App to set goals, track progress, and redeem rewards. During July, and August, any child who meets their parent-set reading goals can earn a free Pizza Hut® single topping Personal Pan Pizza®* from participating locations. We may no longer have a local Pizza Hut but there are definitely some in the CNY region and if nothing else you can find some fun downloadable and printable resources like reading logs, etc. at www.bookitprogram.com/resources

Click here to sign up: https://forms.gle/C3vRisskvsv63EMR9

Keep track of how many pages you read, report it to the library (you'll receive more information about this after you register) and repeat. Prize drawings will be held each Friday in July for all ages. Phillips Free Library's goal is to read 400,000 pages this summer by August 2. When the goal is reached, the library staff will play minute to win it games at the summer reading celebration on August 8th. You get to vote on the games when you report how many pages you've read. If you have questions, email office@phillipsfreelibary.org, call the library 607 749 4616 or stop into the library.

Phillips Free Library recently unveiled a new StoryWalk® at Newton Park, 23 Bartlett Ave. in Homer. A StoryWalk® is a book that has been taken apart, had each page laminated and usually enlarged for easy reading, then presented page by page on a trail, bike path, or in storefront windows to promote reading and exercise. StoryWalk® was created in

2007 by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, VT in collaboration with the Vermont Bicycle and Pedestrian Coalition and the Kellogg Hubbard Library and has been replicated in communities all over the world. StoryWalk® provides early literacy opportunities to young children. Sharing the reading of a StoryWalk book stimulates and fosters the development of strong listening and speaking skills. StoryWalk also helps to build a child’s vocabulary which is important to thinking and learning. Developing early literacy skills leads to better preparation for school. Children and their families can read the book together then discuss the text, illustrations and meaning of a great book.

Maybe Something Beautiful by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell is the book chosen by Phillips Free Library for the new storywalk at Newton Park. This children's book tells the story of how color, joy and hope can transform a neighborhood through art.