Eleanora Benz is latest ‘celebrity reader' at Little Sprouts

Newton - Eleanora Benz, a Newton-based attorney, is the newest ‘celebrity reader’ to visit the children of Little Sprouts Day Care Center in Newton. When Benz entered the room one recent morning, the children immediately became silent in anticipation of one of their favorite activities: being read to by a visiting celebrity from the Sussex County community. Benz read the books, Girl, You’re Amazing and Girls Hold Up the World, to her audience of two- to five-year-old children. Each month, Project Self-Sufficiency invites local celebrities to visit and read to children in Little Sprouts, its day-care center. Benz said she was thrilled to be invited to participate. “This experience meant a lot to me,” she said. “Reading to these wonderful children brought me back to my childhood, when my mother read to me. Giving children the love of reading is like giving them a life-long gift.” Project Self-Sufficiency has hosted numerous Sussex County celebrity-reader residents over the past three years. Among them are Suzanne Rosen, Sussex County United Way director, Project Self Sufficiency board members Rhoda and Norman Seider, and Dr. Ray Frey, professor at Centenary College and local farmer. For more information, call 973-383-5129.