Rotarian hopes literacy project
will be a real ‘page turner’
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – A new literacy awareness project – sponsored by the Presque Isle Rotary Club – will help put children’s books on library shelves at four area elementary schools.
“Our Rotary Club has intermittently been involved with literacy efforts over the years, plus our ongoing thesaurus project where we distribute thesauruses to local third-graders, but the Children’s Book of the Month Club is a brand new concept,” said Sharon Campbell, chair of the book distribution committee.
“March is Literacy Awareness Month for Rotary, and in the past, we’ve tried to do different things like have a speaker talk about the importance of literacy,” she said. “This year, Rotary President Nancy Fletcher asked me if I would come up with an idea, and after talking with the board, we agreed to give books to the school libraries. Most of the schools held a Reading Night or an event involving Dr. Seuss in March, so it was just perfect timing.”
Campbell and fellow committee members – Darrell White, June Gallant, Brett Varnum, Lehrle Kieffer and Jason Parent – asked Rotarians to contribute personal dollars that would be used to purchase books for Pine Street, Zippel, Mapleton and Easton elementary schools.
“We talked to fellow Rotarians about buying two books a month for each of those four schools and we would do this through February 2011,” said Campbell. “Every month we were going to collect money from Rotarians that would be used to buy the books. We were thinking $1 per Rotarian for a total of $12 from each Rotarian, which would be about $1,000.
“The idea really caught on and Rotarians were very generous. We’ve received close to $2,000,” she said, “so we’ll be able to purchase two to three books per month for each school. We’re getting lists from the school librarians and will be ordering the books that they’ve requested. Since the fund-raising is going so well, our plan is to purchase all the books for the 12 months and then present them throughout the year.”
Campbell estimates that over 100 books will be purchased for the local school libraries.
“We want to keep these dollars in this area because literacy is an important issue,” she said. “These kids are going to be future Rotarians … the kids that will be helping you at the hospital, fixing your car, fixing your computer, running your company, and if they do not have that good foundation of literacy, they’re going to be less successful. We feel the Children’s Book of the Month Club is a good, proactive approach.”
With the standing committee in place, Campbell hopes to have a “consistent presence” in local schools.
Several Rotarians already go into the schools and read one-on-one with students.
“I really want to see that initiative move forward,” Campbell said, noting that some Rotarians will be attending a Reading Night at 7 p.m. Monday, April 26 at Zippel Elementary School where they will read a few of the books that have been ordered for Zippel. “Rotary isn’t just about writing checks; it’s about being hands-on and involved. The more we can promote literacy and help change a child’s life, the better.”
To learn more about what you can do to make a difference in children’s literacy, call Campbell at 227-9065.
SHARON CAMPBELL, left, chair of the Presque Isle Rotary Club’s literacy committee, meets with Mary Graham, librarian at Zippel Elementary School, to discuss which books the school plans to order as part of Rotary’s Children’s Book of the Month Club initiative. The Rotary Club recently decided to purchase two to three books per month for a year for Pine Street, Zippel, Mapleton and Easton elementary schools with personal dollars contributed by the Rotarians.
