Nov. 22 — Community connects children with books

Wal-Mart, Reading Tree collect 1,000 books for local elementary school

Chris Albert / of the Herald

Christmas is coming early for the students at Brouillet Elementary when more than 600 students were presented with books to take home at a school assembly.

“I cannot get this smile off my face,” said Principal Lisa Berry to the students gathered for the presentation. “I cannot get this smile off my face because we have something very special for you.”

Through a collective effort, 1,000 books were donated to students at the school on Nov. 16, giving every child a book to take home. The rest are likely to be distributed to the classrooms of new teachers, so they can began to build their classroom libraries.

Reading Tree worked with Communities In Schools of Puyallup to get the books into the hands of students. The organization aims to create partnerships between schools and the community. They get students active in community involvement and provide the means to connect community resources to the students, said Executive Director Chris Loftis.

“The general idea is to get kids to stay in school, have success in school and have success in life,” he said.

Making those connections can be difficult, but sometimes everything just comes together.

“Sometimes it just falls into our lap,” Loftis said.

The gift of 1,000 books was one of those cases.

Reading Tree’s mission is to get books in the hands of children, Hincy said. But not just any tattered book. Through community donations they gather books that children like to read, so students have a choice about the book they take home.

“They can get those books and take them home and make them their own,” Hincy said.

Sometimes the school library can be intimidating, Hincy said, and school required reading might not get them excited about books.

So Reading Tree collects books through donation boxes located at area retailers, like Wal-Mart, and processes them, giving the books in good condition and age appropriate to students and recycling old and tattered books.

“The reality is there is a lot of kindness in the community and there is a lot of frustration,” Loftis said. “People don’t know how to exercise their kindness.”

Partnerships through organizations provides a path for that kindness.

Earlier this year, the Wal-Mart at the corner of 160th and 168th on South Hill began accepting book donations. Thousands of books poured in and the retailer chose to donate the books through Reading Tree to Brouillet Elementary school.

“We consider it a privilege to be a part of this,” said Martha Battle, Wal-Mart Community Involvement Coordinator. “It’s important to be a partner in learning.”

Community involvement is something Reading Tree looks for, he said.

Everybody has a box of books and donating them gives children the opportunity to get excited about reading.

“Getting them excited about a book can translate into a lot of things in the future,” Hincy said. “That just reinforces success in life.”

What it means to be part of the community is something staff at the school try to teach their students. Earlier that week, they hosted a spaghetti feed to raise money for United Way. With that they learned about giving to the community. The donated books marked how the community often gives back.

“It’s two ways,” Berry said. “We give and we receive and we are grateful for it.”