Our kids go to a K-12 charter school that relies heavily on fundraising and donations. This year, the school’s fundraising focus is on the library, and since we are a family of readers that caught our interest. The school’s library is located in the building with the younger grades. The older grades can all use this library, but most of their books are online, so usually it’s the younger grades that spend the most time in the school library. The school has decided to broaden its scope in the library, and eventually open a second library on campus especially dedicated to the upper grades. But for this year, the school is looking to expand their print books for all grades but the upper grades in particular. Since our kids are getting older and will be using this library for years to come, this seemed like a great project for us.
After initial conversations with the school librarian and the school’s fundraising director, and with the family as a whole, we decided this was a project that we could all support. The librarian and fundraising director were very excited. Westlake Academy requires service hours of all the students and especially emphasizes service that relates to their school, school community, or in-school learning, making this an ideal project for us and for the school to support. The next step was the charitable foundation’s paperwork, we all helped with that. After the ok from the charitable foundation and with a check on the way, we made an appointment for the family to meet with the librarian and the fundraising director on campus. We came up with some great ideas for ways to get the kids involved—Kate (grade 5) came up with a survey that she carried around on a clipboard, asking her friends and teachers which books they would like to see in the library and what their favorite books were. Sydney (grade 9) made an online survey and posted flyers with the QR code around the classroom building. Elliot (grade 12) would ask his friends their opinions, as well.
The next step was compiling the list of books the students suggest and turning that in to the librarian. Once she gets the books in, the Taylor family will have a book-covering and inventory party with the librarian. This will give us a real hands-on experience with how the library works and help the kids feel like this is their library, that they have a personal investment in the books and usage of the library for years to come. They will also come away with valuable service experience, spending their time wisely on doing good, interacting with staff and administrators at the school, and feeling a sense of success and accomplishment for a job well done.
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