Students Helping Students: Book Donation
The Reading Raiders Book Club at Greenville Senior High School collected gently used children’s books during the month of October. The goal was 500 books. They surpassed it in one week.
In November, reading club members delivered the more than 1600 books they received to Alexander Elementary, a Title I school just down the street. Most Alexander students don’t have access to books in their home or transportation to a library.
“I told the students there is a direct correlation between the number of books in a home and the academic success of the youngsters in the home, it has as much influence as the education level of the parents,” said Janet Allen, Greenville High Media Specialist and Reading Raiders advisor.
The donation created a friendship between Allen and Alexander Media Specialist Beth Bailey. Bailey said, “Many of us take for granted that we can get to a library if we need extra resources outside of our home, or just go on the internet, but for a great number of our students those things are not in place in their neighborhood. Having the books right there is a huge wow.”
Bailey is giving all of Alexander’s students a chance to go shopping for a book during their library time. Second grade students ran from box to box to find the right choice. Many murmured, “This is the hardest decision, all of these books are so cool.”
One young boy chose an alphabet book and carried it throughout the library. He read it to everyone who would listen. He said, “I’m going to keep this book forever.”