Instead of bats and balls, it’s books and stories at Taylor Elementary School as football and baseball players are making weekly visits to the school to read to 1st and 2nd graders.

“We love having the Liberty players come read to us,” first grade teacher Chasity McKee said. “The kids love it. That’s the best thing. It inspires them to read and to want to read more. It’s just the best thing ever. It just gives them this connection to where they’re going to be going and it gives them a love for reading so that’s what we want.”

The volunteer program just recently began and brings as much joy to the high school students as to the elementary school kids.

“It just brightens up their day and puts a smile on their face to see a high school kid come read to a first grader,” senior baseball player Brian Brown said. “I feel like this was a good experience for these kids. They enjoyed it.”

The program allows younger and older students to make connections while also giving the high school kids the chance to serve the community.

“It was really cool,” senior baseball player Davis Delich said. “They were good kids and they were really captivated by the stories. It just triggers their imagination and their interests for their development.”

The program will continue to be in place throughout the coming weeks with volunteers able to sign up a sheet located on the weight room doors in the fieldhouse.

“The excitement that the kids have when they know that you guys are coming and then when you guys are actually reading is great,” McKee said. “When I read them a story, they love it. But when you guys read them a story, they love that story even more. So these are the books they check out of the library not because I made the recommendations but because you guys read them to them.”