Lugging 1,200 books, members of the Mom’s Club South and the Altrusa International delivered this year’s supply of books for the Books for Babies program Saturday morning at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

Thanks to the program, each child born at LMH receives a colorful book full of faces and a few words.

“You need to talk to babies, and one of the ways you can talk to babies when you can’t think of what else to say is by reading to them,” said Lori Michael, Altrusa president.

Michael, a retired speech pathologist, said she was concerned that parents around Lawrence weren’t reading to their children from birth.

Altrusa, made up of business executives and professionals who volunteer for community-based projects, has focused on Books for Babies. It also is involved in side projects that support Women’s Transitional Care Services and First Step House and provides scholarships for local students.

With a concession stand at the Kansas Speedway, the group raised most of the $1,400 to buy half of the books at a discount from a publisher. Mom’s Club South, a group of Lawrence mothers, matched the amount for the other half.

The Lawrence Public Library also contributes to the project, which is in its third year. In the form of bookmarks, it reminds parents that they don’t have to buy an arsenal of books their child will outgrow; they can find plenty at the library.

Lawrence Memorial Hospital recorded about 1,100 births last year, up slightly from the year before. The groups purchased 100 extra books in anticipation of an amplified number.

The books come in gift baskets, along with diaper bags donated by formula companies and silver spoons from the hospital that can be engraved.

The basket might have one — or two or three, if it’s a multiple birth — books. Among them: “Baby’s Animal Friends,” “All about Baby,” “Good Morning, Baby” and “Goodnight, Baby.”

“They’re truly meant to be baby’s first book,” Michael said.