CONTACT: Jim Davidson
1-800-242-2618
jimdavidson@conwaycorp.net
A "BOOKCASE FOR EVERY CHILD" LITERACY PROJECT IS NOW ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB.
Conway, AR (Insert Current Date) - Some highly creative and industrious people in Conway, Arkansas (Pop. 53,000) have developed a unique literacy project that has never been done in the history of the world. And the entire project is now available on their Web site. This project known as "A Bookcase for Every Child" -- was launched with a group of Volunteers building 50 personalized, oak bookcases, while others were conducting a 'Gently Used' book drive that netted over 6,000 volumes. After the books were sorted by reading levels, an awards ceremony, with television news coverage, was held to present the bookcases to children in low-income families. Soon after the ceremony, another group of volunteers began to read to these children, ages three, four and five at the local Head Start Centers each week. They plan to rotate teams of readers and continue the practice from now on, as well as building 50 more bookcases each year, and having an annual awards ceremony with nationally-prominent speakers.
The reason this project is so unique is that it is community wide, involving a broad base of citizens, and not just one or two organizations. What is even more remarkable is that this project is conducted entirely by volunteers and using no tax or government grant money. When you consider the state of illiteracy in America, with 61% of low-income families not owning any books at all and up to 80% of these children being reared in single parent homes, you can easily see that Conway citizens are attacking the root of the problem where the need is the greatest. Most of these children are doomed to repeat the cycle, ending up on the streets, into drugs, gangs, prostitution or worse, that is, unless the volunteers in our country, step in to help them. The best way to improve life in any community, to have better jobs and safer streets, is to improve the quality of education, and this must begin with literacy. If you consider that Japan has a literacy rate of 99% and our country has between 30 and 40 million adults who cannot read at level one, you will see why we must all do our part to help children in low-income families learn to read. Our nation's future depends on it.
This website contains all the details in beautiful color: the narrative, photos, bookcase plans, front page newspaper articles and a simple and easy way to raise the finances. The seven steps to developing and implementing a "Bookcase for Every Child" project are: 1. Project Overview. 2. Project Organization. 3. Building Bookcases. 4. Book Drive. 5. Awards Ceremony. 6. Reading to Children. 7. Project Funding. For no other reason than having a better, safer, more productive and literate nation, the people of Conway, Arkansas are willing to share this project with any community in America, at no cost. The only requirement is to honor our guiding principles of using only volunteers and no tax or government grant money. This project is the brainchild of nationally syndicated columnist Jim Davidson who is giving 100% of the profits from his book "Learning, Earning & Giving Back," along with private donations, to fund the project.
We invite you to view this Website at www.jimdavidsoncolumn.com/bookcase and then be a part of this project to build a more literate and educated community.
(Editors Note: We would be willing to support a "Bookcase for Every Child" project if there is sufficient interest from people in our community. Please review this website and let us hear from you.)