Baseball Glove Depot Blog

Through catch, kids catch the book habit

See how game of catching using baseball gloves is changing one community.

Standing outside 144 Pratt St. in the Mills Memorial Apartments, Charles Kaplan sent a baseball flying through the air to thwack into the leather glove of 10-year-old Bryan Valle.

The Meriden-based psychotherapist and his young friend stood amid a fluctuating group of children playing catch on a recent Monday, not far from a pile of spare gloves and library books, laid out against the wall of the building.

The simple game of catch, Kaplan explained, is the carrot of his two-part program, called “Beisbol y Biblioteca,” or “Baseball and the Library,” designed to get children reading.

Many of the children that call Mills, a public housing facility run by the Meriden Housing Authority, home have never had the opportunity to play on a Little League team or even own a baseball glove, Kaplan said. Brought up in Spanish-speaking households, many also do not have a home life that emphasizes the importance of reading books, or parents capable of reading in English to them.

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With the program, he hopes to do something about both issues, he said.

Every Monday, Kaplan arrives at Mills around 4 p.m. with his bag of gloves and balls, plays catch with the children who come out to greet him for about an hour, and then brings them to the library for another hour of reading.

Kaplan has no intention to expanding to full baseball games, he said.

The simple exchange of throws involved in a game of catch “has its own mystique,” he said. “I want to keep it simple. For me, this is enough, to be there sharing the enjoyment with the kids … and it’s all about them getting that book.”

The nine children he’d gathered sometimes ran back to their apartments to consult with parents, and older teenagers and adults watched the group from a distance.

Some, like 9-year-old Kristal Rios, a fourth-grader at Israel Putnam School, showed only tepid interest in baseball.

She’s a bit scared of the ball, she admitted, but said she’s sometimes able to catch it when Kaplan throws with her.

“Open up your glove,” he instructed her. “It won’t hurt you.”

But when it came to the books she was able to take out of the library with Kaplan’s help, her appraisal of the program was considerably higher.

She held up a book on horses and another on origami she’d read over the past week, and said she was ready to return them and find some new ones.

“It’s a good book,” Rios said of the horse book.

Periodically Kaplan would offer advice and praise the children.

“What a grab, Harry!” he said when 8-year-old Harry Rosado stretched to reach a wildly thrown ball.

As others walked by, he told them to get permission from their parents to join his program, which is free of charge.

Kaplan was inspired to start the program after hearing President Barack Obama speak on the need for people to get involved with their communities and make a difference, he said.

Around 5 p.m., Kaplan collected the gloves and balls and put name tags on the children before walking them two blocks to the library at 105 Miller St.

The children spread out throughout the children’s section before pairing up with one of the volunteers Kaplan has gathered to help them work out the hard words in their books.

“This is something I’m really passionate about,” said volunteer Lori Delude, who said her home was lined with books. “I’m a passionate reader.”

“You know,” she told the boy she sat down with as they opened his book, “I’ve never been to a baseball game.”

Although reading is an important part of the program, Kaplan said, the positive interaction with adults is also

Most of the children arriving with Kaplan are new faces to library Director of Youth Services Kathie Matsil.

“I think it’s a very good idea,” she said of the program. “It’s really introducing them to the library. … I think it’s really important to have programs that incorporate reading, for all children, but specifically for children where reading at home isn’t the norm. Hopefully they’ll gain confidence in reading.”

The housing authority is also happy to have an outside volunteer coming in to help residents, said David Sunshine, director of resident services for the MHA.

“Most of the efforts we conduct are funded through federal or local resources,” he said. “(Kaplan )is completely volunteering to do this. … He seems interested not only in running programs, but also in the kids themselves. (This sort of program) doesn’t happen enough in my book.”

Most of Kaplan’s reading volunteers come from his church, the Unitarian Universalist Church, at 328 Paddock Ave., whose members also donated many of the gloves the children use, and several hundred dollars in start up funds.

Kaplan said he’s searching for ways to expand the program to more children.

“I’m figuring out what I need to do to make it really popular,” he said.

Kaplan plans to run the program until early November and then pick it back up in the spring, he said.

He’s all set for volunteers, but would like donations to help build the program. Financial contributions can be made payable to “Baseball and the Library” c/o Dr. Charles Kaplan, 162 Thorpe Ave., Meriden, CT 06450

aperlot@record-journal.com

(203) 317-2234

MERIDEN – Throw and catch. Repeat. Then go read.

Standing outside 144 Pratt St. in the Mills Memorial Apartments, Charles Kaplan sent a baseball flying through the air to thwack into the leather glove of 10-year-old Bryan Valle.

The simple game of catch, Kaplan explained, is the carrot of his two-part program, called “Beisbol y Biblioteca,” or “Baseball and the Library,” designed to get children reading.

With the program, he hopes to do something about both issues, he said.