Tribute -- Efforts to Support Children's Reading!

We believe that the best way to improve students' reading skills is to practice their reading.  The first step in that process is getting books into students hands. The USED BOOK SALE is an example of that and also how our PTO gives back to the community --- all books at the sale were only 25 cents. The PTO started accepting donations in September and collected thousands of books right up until the January sale. Our PTO organized the books and sorted them by category. District staff members were invited to shop and select any materials they needed for their classrooms or personal use, at no charge. The day of the sale, over 1,700 books were sold and literally thousands more were given away.

After the sale the remaining books were donated to various charities. Over 1,000 books were given to an organization called Zawadi ni Zawadi, a non-profit organization committed to the children of Africa. Zawadi ni Zawadi translates in English to "a gift is a gift". Zawadi ni Zawadi's primary focus has been assisting the children who attend St. Margaret's Academy in Arusha, Tanzania, East Africa. Zawadi ni Zawadi shipped 28,000 pounds of supplies in the summer of 2008 and the organization built the school's first library last summer, as well. For more information about Zawadi ni Zawadi go to www.zawadinizawadi.com.

This is the second time that District 46 has partnered to assist students in Africa in obtaining books to read. In 2007 we also participated in the Books of Hope Project in for students in Uganda who have no books to read or schools in which to learn. Our students wrote and illustrated their own stories. We then made each story into a hard cover book and sent them to Africa through the Books of Hope @www.booksofhope.org.

 As we all seek ways to support one another, we can be very proud of our schools' and school-communities’ efforts (with the help of the PTO Used Book Sale and Books of Hope Projects) to reach out to other schools in the world to help children gain access to children’s books. Thank you to all who assisted and supported these wonderful efforts.