By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
ssoldan@mihomepaper.com
Ortonville — On May 14, the Ortonville Order of the Eastern Stars #286 donated $3,000 to the Steps and Stories program at Sashabaw Meadows.
The program is part of the community outreach done by the Brandon Township Public Library and outreach liaison librarian Fran Hotchkiss, in partnership with the Eastern Stars and Brandon Groveland Youth Assistance. During the summer run of the program, the Eastern Stars donate the funds to purchase the students new shoes for the start of school. The funds are to cover the shoe shopping trip for 2024, 2025, and 2026.
“Normally we do it every year, but we might not be around for the next two years, so we wanted to make sure it was given to that program in our name,” said Worthy Matron Kallen Hotchkiss. “It’s so fun to watch them when they get their shoes and socks, it’s wonderful.”
The eight-week Steps and Stories program encourages exercise and reading. It runs multiple times a year at the Sashabaw Meadows Clubhouse.
“The Eastern Stars extremely generous donation will ensure shoe shopping trips for my students at the end of the eight week summer sessions for a few years,” said Fran Hotchkiss. “The children benefit so much from Steps and Stories and the families are very appreciative. Their continuous support over the years has made such a positive difference to so many children. The students are so proud to show off their new shoes and feel so good about themselves to start the new school year off in style. I can’t thank the Eastern Stars and Brandon Groveland Youth Assistance enough for their continued support and generosity for my library outreach program.”
Kallen has attended several shoe shopping trips, and believes in the positive influence of the program.
“For them to pick up a book, to read, to be involved in anything they can get their hands on, it’s just a great program,” she said. “Something that they can go through life and say it helped them out or got them involved in reading and doing activities with the community.”