01/11/2001
Cooperative
effort helps Tusculum College Wonder of Words program put free books in
hands of some 1,000 area children
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GREENEVILLE, TN -- The books reached Tusculum College's Arts Outreach early in November 2000 -- boxes and boxes of them, filling first a hallway, then a back storage room normally reserved for props used in various stage productions.
When the more than 7,000 books were all in, the boxes had put quite a cramp on space in the Arts Outreach offices, but Sara Alenduff, Arts Outreach Program coordinator of the Wonder of Words (W.O.W.) program at Tusculum, was glad to have the problem.
The books, aimed at young readers from the pre-kindergarten to 8th grade levels, were destined to reach the hands of children all through Greene County who otherwise might have difficulty obtaining books.
Since November, about 1,000 Greeneville area youngsters have received copies of the books, which came free to Tusculum College through a cooperative effort between several organizations and initiatives. Though the books themselves were free, shipping them to the college was not, Alenduff said. Now the W.O.W. office is appealing to supportive citizens and groups in the local community to help cover the $1,606 shipping bill.
Alenduff said that the books have been distributed at Highland Elementary School in Greeneville, through Greeneville's Family Resource Center, Gifts for Kids, Backyard Learning Centers, Greene County Child Health and Development Program and through the Head Start Program.
The books distributed through Tusculum's W.O.W. program are just a few of more than one and one-half million books given out to children in lower-income families across the United States through First Book, a national non-profit organization whose sole mission is to provide new books and educational materials to children from low-income families who are participating in existing literary programs. Joining that effort through overall sponsorship is USA Weekend magazine and the Points of Light Foundation. Even the United States Coast Guard was involved in the massive cooperative effort.
The W.O.W. program lent its support to the America Reads Challenge, a cooperative effort with the goal of ensuring literacy for every American child by the third grade, Alenduff said. A grant from First Book and the Mary Engelbreit Foundation to support the book distribution program was received by W.O.W in October of last year.
Working with the Greeneville and Greene County school systems, Alenduff gathered statistics indicating about 3,100 children over both school systems qualified to receive books under the program. Two books for each student were requested. Alenduff said that while W.O.W. was billed for the shipment of 6,424 books, more than 7,000 books were actually received.
Helping with the overall project is Tusculum College Service Leader Scholar, Michelle Langford. The Service Leader Scholars program at Tusculum is an initiative of the Service-Learning division of the college and involves qualified students in special service projects for the good of the college and community.
Some donations have already begun coming in to help pay the $1,606 shipping bill, but much more support is needed, Alenduff said. Help from interested civic organizations as well as individuals, businesses, and other groups would be welcome, she said. Those interested in helping by making a tax-deductible contribution may contact Alenduff at 423-636-7300, extension 620, or by e-mail at salenduf@tusculum.edu.
The Tusculum College W.O.W. program has been a part of the Arts Outreach division for more than a decade. Among its other projects are the Books for Babies program, which works through Greeneville city school librarians and children to provide a book for every infant born in Greene County, and a project through which Alenduff visits pre-natal classes to emphasize the importance of new parents reading to their babies.