While summer break may be in full swing, a team of Dowagiac Union High School teachers are spending their Saturdays keeping the minds of local students sharp before the first bell of the fall rings.

Earlier this summer, the district launched its C.A.R.E. (Come and Read Everyone) program, designed to help local children fight brain drain through reading. A group of educators will pack inside their “book mobile” (one of the district’s school buses) and stop by various schools, playgrounds and other popular gathering places for students every Saturday, through August.

At each stop, which lasts around 30 minutes, the teachers lay out tables containing books that children may read with their friends or family on site, on one of the several bean bag chairs the educators set up. Children may also bring four to six books home with them, and can return them at any of the stops the following week.

The selection of books is aimed at all reading levels, from basic picture books parents may read to their preschoolers to young adult novels for middle and high school students.

“We want to get as many books into as many hands as possible,” said Kristin Ausra, a kindergarten teacher with Justus Gage Elementary who is assisting with the program this summer.

Joining Ausra is Melissa McDonald, a kindergarten teacher at Kincheloe; Jessica Adam, an ECSE instructor at Justus Gage; Trudy Custodio, a kindergarten teacher at Patrick Hamilton who will retire at the end of the summer; and Kelley Gnodtke, a business instructor at Dowagiac Union High School.

Katrina Daiga, the director of the district’s federal and state grants program, is heading up the initiative. The program began last year, although the educators contained their efforts to area migrant camps.

This year, though, the book mobile has stopped at sites throughout the entire greater Dowagiac area, including the city, Twin Lakes and Sister Lakes.

The teachers are open to suggestions from parents and others in the community for possible sites they may stop this summer.

“We’re trying to reach even more members of the community,” Ausra said.

The program organizers will post which sites they will stop at on the district’s Facebook page, facebook.com/dowagiacschools, several days before each Saturday. No preregistration or paper work is required for children to participate in the program.

“Just look for the yellow bus,” Ausra said.