Fall 2019 Project Progress
“I did not know that there were areas in my state of Georgia that do not have access to books. There must be a stop to this. Every child has the right to learn and to become educated. By doing this, I am helping the kids out and helping them have a future and learn the importance of reading. I will keep on donating books for this cause. There has to be an end to this book deserts.” -Nashelly Soto
“The #EliminatingBookDeserts Service-Learning Project at the Clarkston campus will help provide books to the students from both schools.” -Denisha Rodgers
“A project of this sort will help low -income schools build classroom libraries where students can borrow age-appropriate books to take home and read.” -Joy Agbonghae
-Nicola White
“There are good ideas that are helpful in ending book deserts, like opening more libraries, allowing all students to have library cards and waiving late fees. Also with schools allowing the media center to stay open later so that parents have the opportunity for lending privileges. Reading all the information made me appreciate people who are trying their best to help children and their education. I will from now on donating for programs like this because I see how valuable it is to the community.” -Linda Flores
“I have always been fascinated by how good a new book feels in my hands. However, growing up in a third world country meant that having new books was a rarity. I would never dream that this situation would also be happening nowadays to so many kids here in America. Finding books to donate to the project was not a difficult task. When I moved to the U.S., I started to collect books, married an avid reader and I made sure my son would always be in the company of a good book. When he was little, I wanted him to have a special day of the week in which he would always remember. So, I started something I call “Book Fridays”. He would get a new book every last day of the school week to enjoy it during the weekend. After so many years, we have a library at home that includes more than a thousand books and sharing some of them gave my family joy. The book deserts assignment touched me deeply since I know kids everywhere are missing something very important to their intellectual growth. Books can help kids dream, increase their writing/reading skills and consequently make them more confident, increasing their chances to succeed in their future choices. Hopefully, more people will realize that the best gift you can give a child is family time at the nearby library when having new books are not an option.” -Sonia Fountain
“This eliminating book project was the best assignment that I’ve done so far. I’ve always given back books to the salvation army stores and Goodwill stores to get rid of them but never thought to give back to the library because you always think the library has enough but donating for kids that can’t afford is thoughtful. I already had a couple of books that I wanted to donate but I
felt like I didn’t have enough, so I decided to finish the chapter books I was reading could donate those and I even bought 3 books from Goodwill and salvation for a cheap price. I even asked a few relatives if they were willing to donate books they had but unfortunately, they didn’t have any books but offered to donate money to purchase books to donate. This whole project really opened my eyes to different opportunities and how I can impact the community with asking people in the neighborhood, friends, and family to help donate books to young children who don’t have the money, come from low-income families and also schools that don’t have the budget to afford different kinds of books. I believe there are so many young children that want to read and learn how to. I felt this is a good way to give back to the community.” -Kaysha Debose
“The Georgia State University Perimeter College Education Courses have committed to help change this for surrounding schools in the Alpharetta and Clarkston area. Many students do not have valuable resources, such as books, in order for them to expand and elevate their imagination. I started my project right away. I begin asking many co-workers and family members. When I present to anyone, I advise of the information and how they can help and commit to helping students learn more and make an impact. Most people were able to donate books. I challenged some to take their chance and purchase some books. I was able to collect fifteen books. Most books donated were from people who already had those books in their homes. The books were elementary-aged appropriate. Others were people who went and bought books to donate. Once people donated books, I asked if they would like to take a picture, but most were camera shy. I wished more people had donated but this was such a great project, and cause, to stand behind and would love to participate again.” -Chante’ Johnson
“The Eliminating Book Desert project is one of my favorite contributions to the community, especially for the youth. This is my second time participating with this project and I get excited each time. It’s such a pleasure to help with such a major cause for the literacy of children in and out of the classroom.” -Dominique Watkins
After reading the correlating articles and participating in the book donation, I often think about how many children in the U.S. do not have appropriate books to read in their school libraries. The #EliminatingBookDeserts initiative has been a very important lesson and experience in my journey to becoming the best teacher I can be. I scavenged my home for the
books I loved from my childhood and found twenty-six of them from various genres that I felt would be entertaining and educational for other children who need it more. -Ciara Brewington
