Submitted photo From left, Melissa Holman, director of the Day Care Center; Shepherdstown Elementary School Principal Scott Jacobson; and Rotary Club President Sandy Sponaugle.

The Shepherdstown Rotary Club has awarded three “Rotary Reads” grants totaling $1,350 to three local institutions to promote reading.

The Club presented the two largest grants at its April 18 weekly breakfast meeting at the Bavarian Inn in Shepherdstown.

One of these, for $650, was presented to the Shepherdstown Day Care Center. The Center will use the grant to fund 26 “Literally Literacy” programs for its preschool children. The programs will be presented by Kathleen Dawe, a well-known local storyteller.

The other grant presented April 18 is a $600 award to Shepherdstown Elementary School, to cover the cost of renewing the school’s annual license for a Special Education reading program called “Reading A to Z.”

The Club has also awarded a $100 grant to the Shepherdstown Public Library to support that institution’s programs for children. The Library was unable to attend the April 18 breakfast.

The Shepherdstown Rotary Club’s “Rotary Reads” grant program is one of several Club activities aimed at enhancing literacy among local children. It consists of cash grants, awarded annually, to worthy institutions for projects or programs that promote reading.

Enhancing literacy has been a major priority of Rotarians since their organization’s founding in 1905.