Growing a garden of readers
Posted: Tuesday, September 27, 2016 8:00 am
What a worthy cause! Assistance League of Atlanta is setting out to put books in the hands of as many children as possible. Located in Chamblee, this all-volunteer organization is kicking off its Fifth Annual Children’s Book Drive Oct. 1.
The overarching goal of Assistance League of Atlanta is to improve the lives of children and adults in need. This book drive is one of many ways they accomplish that goal. Last year, with the help of member volunteers, local businesses, and churches, the organization collected 15,080 children’s books that they distributed to schools, shelters, charities and day care facilities. The book drive has seen phenomenal growth, collecting 1,400 books in 2012 and surpassing 15,000 in 2015.
The children’s book drive begins Oct. 1 and ends Oct. 22 on Make a Difference Day. This annual day of volunteering is sponsored by USA Weekend and is a natural fit for Assistance League of Atlanta. On Oct. 22, Assistance League member volunteers will gather to sort, label and pack books for distribution, and children from the Cross Cultural Ministry at Dunwoody Baptist Church and Cascade United Methodist Church will join the group to choose books.
Each child gets to select five books. It warms the hearts of the volunteers to see these children sit right down to read. One child last year asked, “Is this my very own book? May I take it home with me and keep it?” That reaction reminds me of how I looked forward to going to the library as a child and how thrilled I was to unwrap books at Christmas and on my birthday.
As a life-long reader, I still have on my bookshelf the books my mother bought me all those many years ago: the Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew and many of the Dr. Seuss books. It was Dr. Seuss who so wisely said, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you will go!”
In 2015, Book Drive recipients will include Missions of Dunwoody Baptist Church, Mountain T.O.P. (a mission of St. Luke’s Presbyterian Church), ChildrenRead, Inc. Justice Reads, Craddock Center (a mission of Peachtree Christian Church), as well as other local churches and schools.
“We could not do this without the support of the businesses and churches in our community,” says Kathryn Ray, President of Assistance League of Atlanta and it’s clear the community “wants to help us put books into the hands of children, many of whom have no books at home.” To donate books, stop by any of the following community locations:
• Alice Cleaners, Dunwoody Village, 5531 Chamblee-Dunwoody Road
• Dunwoody Baptist Church (church office), 1455 Mt. Vernon Road
• St. Luke’s Presbyterian Church (church office), 1978 Mt. Vernon Rd.
•Assistance League of Atlanta, 3534 Broad Street, Chamblee
I think of this program as a way to grow readers, maybe even bookworms. Could the next logical step be a club dubbed Future Readers of America along the lines of the old Future Farmers of America and Future Homemakers of America. Wherever the Assistance League of Atlanta may take this, they’re counting on you to help out by dropping off donations over the next month.
Kathy Manos Penn is a Sandy Springs resident now happily retired from a corporate career in communications. Please send comments and questions to kathymanospenn@gmail.com and enjoy more of her musings at TheInkPenn.blogspot.com.
