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Dear Friend of Reader To Reader, I hope you enjoy this newsletter about the Reader To Reader Book Project. Our success is very much due to your donations of books, postage money, and most of all your generous spirit. Please forward this newsletter and help us spread the word. I am pleased to tell you that we are growing like a weed, or more hopefully a flower, as schools are calling other schools and telling them to call us. We now serve over 30 schools, kindergarten to college, across the country. Actually, it's even larger than that, because when we say we serve a high school we actually serve the elementary schools and junior high in that district too. This month I'd like to tell you about our work with various Native American high schools and colleges. It all began with Corinna "Corky" Lopez, high school junior, and the very first Reader To Reader volunteer. Corky heard about our project and wanted to help out. She very generously gave up her after school afternoons for a winter of prowling around our basement storage facility at Amherst College's Cadigan Center. We spent many hours filling boxes for various colleges and high schools. Corky quickly got a sense of how we ponder over each book as to whether it is right for the needs of a particular school. It's not the fastest process (I'll fill you in more on it another time) but it is part of what has made Reader To Reader such a success. We don't just send any old books. We work with schools to send them the right books for their needs. Any way, Corky came in one day and mentioned that she had been studying about the Navajos and the extreme poverty they live in. It's not ancient history -- it's today. Part of my philosophy in encouraging volunteer energy is to listen closely to the ideas of volunteers. It helps them connect to the project, and even more, their ideas are very good. After a little Internet research, I got on the phone and contacted the Navajo Pine High School. Their librarian, Carla Clauschee, actively embraced what we do, sending us lists of requests, and hundreds of books later we have made great strides in building a library full of poetry, fiction, science and history. We have placed a special emphasis on helping them with books on Native American history and have had surprising success. We have also sent a whole bunch of Native American fiction and poetry. We send a lot of email back and forth that's just like this:
Our ongoing success with the Navajos brought expansion to help other reservations, notably the Pine Ridge in South Dakota. One of the very poorest spots in the country. Then one evening I spotted a fascinating documentary about a Native American Reservation where in the midst of poverty and alcoholism they were uplifted by the success of their high school basketball team. It was a fascinating story, showing a slice of life both on and off the team that ultimately revealed not just the poverty but also the tremendous racism they face whenever they leave the reservation. Even when it's just to play another high school team. The documentary is called Chiefs (http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chiefs/) and it focuses on the Arapahos. Well, that's all I needed to see. The minute it ended I was off the coach and on to the computer searching for the contact info for the Arapahos. 8:00 AM the next day the phone was ringing at their library and I was discussing books for their library. Not surprisingly, along with needing just about every subject, they wanted books on basketball. The team actually is a powerful positive force and the librarian Darlene Powell, wanted to provide books that would entice people to read. In the very first box for them I rounded up all the Michael Jordan, Larry Bird books I could find, as well as, Vintage NBA, a fascinating story of the NBA's early years, Season on the Brink, and The Breaks of the Game, among others. I found a number of other sports books and a supply of sports related fiction. With that I sent poetry, science and an assortment of fiction. Darlene told me that they schedule a 15-minute silent reading period at the start of every school day and these books would be perfect for that. As with every school we deal with, there are always surprises and we never assume to know in advance what a school will need. Among the surprises was that they wanted books on tai chi, the Chinese martial art and healthful exercise. Like the Navajos, they also wanted to expand their collection of books on Native Americans. Over the past three months we have shipped hundreds of books to the Arapahos and we continue to ship more. Our strategy is to work with schools on an ongoing basis. Last month we expanded to serve tribal colleges, but I will save that story for later. However, it all started with Corky and her wonderful idea of helping the Navajos. It all grew from there. To learn more about the life of the Northern Arapaho Indians visit http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chiefs/rez.html. Where among other things you'll learn that:
Speaking of web sites, with some volunteer energy from Brendan Devlin we now have our own web site at http://www.readertoreader.org. Note the .org or you will end up on a different web site selling used books. Our site contains basic information about our mission and the growing list of schools we serve. You can learn about each school, including their test scores, grade range, number of students, and demographics by clicking on the School Info links at http://www.readertoreader.org/schools.htm. It's a great way to gain greater understanding of whom we serve. Here are highlights of just some of our recent book shipments: Navajo Pine High School, Navajo, New Mexico
Durant High School, Durant, Mississippi
John Essex School, Demopolis, AL
Bridge Jr. &. Sr. High, Springfield, MA
Wyoming Indian High School, Ethete, WY
Tallulah High School, Tallulah, LA
Humphreys County High School, Belzoni, MS
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. We've shipped much more. Special thanks to Corinna "Corky" Lopez, Sydnie Kunin, and June Turcotte for volunteering their time to collect, organize and box up books. Until next month, Sincerely, David Mazor Reader To Reader To be added to this newsletter please email dmazor@readertoreader.org |