Five hundred new books were donated during an event last week at the Brevard Schools Foundation’s Supply Zone for Teachers at the former Clearlake Middle School in Cocoa.
The donation came from the Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women, an organization that, according to their mission statement, promotes friendship, develops women of intellect and integrity, cultivates leadership potential and enriches the lives of members and their communities.
The national organization of the fraternity heavily promotes literacy projects, according to Gretchen Syfert with the Pi Beta Phi alumni club, and the local chapter was fortunate enough to secure funding for a donation from that larger project. In previous years, the club made donations to other organizations, but this year wanted to give back to the Supply Zone.
“These are children that have sometimes never owned a book,” Syfert said.
The donated books were distributed to teachers at schools including Fairglen, MILA, Endeavour and Dr. W.J. Creel Elementary Schools, said Elizabeth Schreiber, store manager at the Supply Zone.
The books they gave were mostly fiction books appropriate for younger grades and they seemed very well received by teachers, including Tiffany Sheesley of W.J. Creel Elementary School, who said she was taking a “cart load of things, especially the free books” from the Supply Zone.
“Beyond thankful,” she said on what the books meant to her. “It’s my first year teaching so being able to come here and being able to get these materials for my classroom is beyond anything I could have thought of being a first-year teacher.”
She added that the books fit her student’s interests, citing dinosaur books as one example.
“It helps get them into what they’re interested in,” she added.
Schreiber was also hopeful this was the start of a longer partnership between the two groups.
“They were so happy with how this worked that I think they’re going to continue to do this in the future,” she said.
Source: Florida Today