Friday, November 14, 2003
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Friday, November 14, 2003 |
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Book drive garners more than 5,000 books By JOHN THOMPSON Coweta County parents, elementary school students, teachers and citizens donated over 5,000 easy-reader children's books as part of National Make a Difference Day, organized by Coweta County School System Community Schools. Community Schools Director Alan Wood gathered several students and community groups together to celebrate the donations, amidst stacks and boxes of Dr. Seuss, Clifford the Big Red Dog and other children's volumes. The books will go to a variety of uses - including donations to family groups and use by community literacy programs to help teach Hispanic children English - and the successful book drive will become an annual event, said Wood. "We have had just a tremendous response, thanks to leadership from our school principals and the generosity of parents," said Wood. Parents with children in elementary school were being asked to donate one good condition, easy-reader children's book to their child's school through October 29 as a part of the drive. Willis Road Elementary School led county elementary schools in donations, with 2,450 books collected. Students from Willis Road, Arnco-Sargent - where JUDY Davis' 4th grade class collected 184 books - White Oak, Northside and Western joined Wood at his CEC offices. Students from the Performance Learning Center (PLC) also joined the gathering, since sorting and cataloguing the books is a part of several PLC students' community service project. Anne Josey, Executive Director of CLICK (Certified Literate is Coweta's Key), met with Wood as part of the festivities. CLICK is among several local organizations working to teach Hispanic students and their parents English, and will receive several of the books as they are translated by school system Spanish class students. Wood said the books will be used for a variety of other purposes as well, including donations to Angel's House children's shelter, the establishment of a community book pantry, and direct donations to students and families. "This has turned out to be a wonderful event, and it has energized students and parents to get involved and make a difference," said Wood. "And it fills so many needs, so we will keep this as an ongoing effort and will hold a similar drive for each Make A Difference day." Cutline: Over 5,000 children's books were collected for National Make a Difference Day through Coweta County elementary schools. Students and teachers from several schools gathered at Alan Wood's offices at the Central Educational Center to celebrate the successful collection. Among them were, back row left to right, Willis Road Principal Charles Smith, Northside Principal Tom McCormack, Western principal Mike Cutchen, Arnco-Sargent AP Deborah Palmer, White Oak AP Janet Wunner, and Performance Learning Center students Melissa Mahaffey and Shanna Stanley, of East Coweta High School.
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