Raising Readers Welcome Baby Program   The Raising Readers Welcome Baby program helps us reach new parents in our area. Raising Readers volunteers visit parents of newborns in the hospital. We have a brief visit with each family in order to begin a relationship, enroll them in Raising Readers for future benefits, and deliver the Books for Babies bags provided by Ames Public Library. Nurses deliver the Books for Babies bags if Raising Readers has not been able to visit a family before they go home. Welcome Baby’s objectives are: to celebrate each new baby’s birth to increase parent's awareness of their babies’ amazing abilities to encourage parents to cuddle, talk, and share books with their babies to inform parents about Raising Readers programs and other local resources Raising Readers benefits are offered to families.Each family receives a Raising Readers brochure and is invited to complete an enrollment card. Raising Readers will maintain a confidential database in order to stay connected with families and offer benefits (parenting information and support, books for children, and local family-friendly activities and resources) as their children grows. Mary Greeley Medical Center and Raising Readers partner to mail developmental newsletters to families when their babies are 3 months old and 15 months old. "Books for Babies" bags provide parents of newborns with books and information about the importance of talking and reading to children daily. Ames Public Library , the program’s sponsor in Story County, purchases and assembles the materials and delivers the bags to the Birthways unit at Mary Greeley Medical Center. Every bag contains a new board book for the baby. Bags also have lists of age-appropriate books for children and resources for parents about library programs and other parenting education opportunities. The Ames Public Library contact person is the Youth Services Specialist .