Toolbox Book Drives for Families
Donation protected
The Toolbox Literacy Group Book Fund
Many of you already know me. I’m Linda Jackson of Amarillo, Texas. I’m a Texas certified teacher currently serving as an Educational Assistant with Amarillo Independent School District. I am passionate about helping kids learn to read. A year ago this month, I began The Toolbox Literacy Group with two purposes.
The first purpose of Toolbox is providing good children’s books to the homes of children who attend Amarillo Title I Schools. We know that children who are read to at a young age have a better chance to develop grade-level reading skills than children who are not exposed to books. In fact, early reading in the home may be the single most important factor in reading success. However, when families struggle for the necessities, there just isn’t money for books.
The second purpose of the Toolbox Literacy Group is to provide one-on-one volunteer tutoring for children between the ages of 6 and 12 who may be experiencing reading difficulties. By offering our free summer reading camp and then adding free writing and reading workshops during the school year, we can help young students improve as readers and writers.
In May of 2016, we staged our first book drive with the aid of 2 Amarillo churches, Amarillo Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. We collected over 200 books which were distributed to second graders at Mesa Verde Elementary School. The books the children took home were at their reading level. We also sent books home for any other children in the families.
In August, we held our first Camp Toolbox, which was 8 mornings of reading work for a group of 20 children ranging from 6 to 12 years old. Each camper had a personal tutor for 2 hours of reading and writing help. Parents and campers both were happy with the program, and are looking forward to repeating the experience this summer. Our volunteers were wonderful, and are also eager to be part of another Camp Toolbox. And yes, Camp Toolbox is free.
We need money to continue and expand our work. Mostly what we need is money for books. We order books from First Book, https://www.firstbook.org/about-first-book/our-approach/marketplace, and also received a generous donation from Usborne Books, https://www.usbornebooksandmore.com/ through a local company representative. We also take individual donations of new or gently-used books.
Now, though, we are ready to grow and expand our book drives to more schools, plus enlarge our reading camp and add some school year workshops. That means getting a lot more books and supplies and renting or buying a place to keep all our stuff between jobs.
It comes down to this: We need your money to help our kids to the good education they need. We have started two good programs, and we want to keep going.
Many of you already know me. I’m Linda Jackson of Amarillo, Texas. I’m a Texas certified teacher currently serving as an Educational Assistant with Amarillo Independent School District. I am passionate about helping kids learn to read. A year ago this month, I began The Toolbox Literacy Group with two purposes.
The first purpose of Toolbox is providing good children’s books to the homes of children who attend Amarillo Title I Schools. We know that children who are read to at a young age have a better chance to develop grade-level reading skills than children who are not exposed to books. In fact, early reading in the home may be the single most important factor in reading success. However, when families struggle for the necessities, there just isn’t money for books.
The second purpose of the Toolbox Literacy Group is to provide one-on-one volunteer tutoring for children between the ages of 6 and 12 who may be experiencing reading difficulties. By offering our free summer reading camp and then adding free writing and reading workshops during the school year, we can help young students improve as readers and writers.
In May of 2016, we staged our first book drive with the aid of 2 Amarillo churches, Amarillo Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. We collected over 200 books which were distributed to second graders at Mesa Verde Elementary School. The books the children took home were at their reading level. We also sent books home for any other children in the families.
In August, we held our first Camp Toolbox, which was 8 mornings of reading work for a group of 20 children ranging from 6 to 12 years old. Each camper had a personal tutor for 2 hours of reading and writing help. Parents and campers both were happy with the program, and are looking forward to repeating the experience this summer. Our volunteers were wonderful, and are also eager to be part of another Camp Toolbox. And yes, Camp Toolbox is free.
We need money to continue and expand our work. Mostly what we need is money for books. We order books from First Book, https://www.firstbook.org/about-first-book/our-approach/marketplace, and also received a generous donation from Usborne Books, https://www.usbornebooksandmore.com/ through a local company representative. We also take individual donations of new or gently-used books.
Now, though, we are ready to grow and expand our book drives to more schools, plus enlarge our reading camp and add some school year workshops. That means getting a lot more books and supplies and renting or buying a place to keep all our stuff between jobs.
It comes down to this: We need your money to help our kids to the good education they need. We have started two good programs, and we want to keep going.
Organizer and beneficiary
Linda Benge Jackson
Organizer
Amarillo, TX
Rosalie Falcon
Beneficiary
Inspired to help? Start a fundraiser for someone you know
