When the head of youth services at Pottsville Free Public Library made his pitch for financial support at the Karen’s Heroes event Friday, he hit the target audience with a dose of reality.
“We’re working for you,” Darren DeArment said to the 201 third-grade students at Pottsville Area’s John S. Clarke Elementary Center.
Communicating with children is what DeArment does every day at his job. When participating in the Karen’s Heroes program — an annual event held to introduce third-grade students at John S. Clarke to local charities — representatives of local charities have to get up in front of the third-grade class and introduce themselves.
Before taking the stage in the elementary school’s cafeteria Friday, DeArment offered insight into his approach.
“Having a good sense of humor works for me when talking to students, especially when a glitch of some sort happens,” DeArment said.
“Don’t take yourself too seriously. On the other hand, you can’t be too funny because they pattern their responses after you,” said Linda McElvaney, Pottsville, a retired third-grade teacher and one of the supporters of Karen’s Heroes.
“It’s also works well for me when talking to older students, who tend to be a more challenging audience. I’ve found if I can get them to laugh at the beginning of a presentation, it breaks the ice, so to speak, and they become more receptive,” DeArment said.
The children’s room at Pottsville Free Public Library has a collection of 23,050 books, 722 DVDs and 188 CDs, DeArment said.
At youth programs hosted by the children’s room, he said there were 4,488 children and adults participating in 2012, 4,699 children and adults participating in 2013, 5,029 children and adults participating in 2014, and 5,391 children and adults participating in 2015.
“I’d say the greatest need is for purchasing books; there are always more I’d like to add to the print collection,” he said.
“It’s a goal of mine to increase it by at least a couple of hundred every year,” DeArment said.
Karen’s Heroes is a traditional tribute to elementary school teacher Karen Chattin-Ney, who died in 1998 at age 46.
Chattin-Ney’s friends and family, including widower Thomas Ney and parents Joseph and Joan Chattin, came up with the Karen’s Heroes Program in 1999 as a way to remember her.
This is the 17th year for the event, according to event chairwoman Anita Dwyer, Barnesville.
Dwyer said every year, the third-grade students at John S. Clarke Elementary vote to distribute $1,500 from the Karen Chattin-Ney Education Fund to five local charities. Representatives of the charities selected are given the opportunity to make presentations to the students during Karen’s Heroes week. At the end of that week, each student will vote to contribute to one of the five. Each student vote is a $5 donation, and the remainder of the money is split evenly among the charities.
This week, representatives of Hillside SPCA, Servants To All, Schuylkill Conservancy and the Make-A-Wish Foundation also gave presentations.
The donation list will be unveiled sometime in the next two weeks, Dwyer said.