In
January 2004, the students of Winchester Public School in Brooklin
Ontario collected $13,000 at the first ever For the Love of Reading
read-a-thon. This 17 day event, organized by Kelly Winsor, Barb Matthews
and Cynthia Barnes resulted in $5,500 in free books for the library and
a new shelving unit. The students were thrilled to receive half of their
pledge money to purchase their very own Usborne books.
It all started on Tuesday January 6, when students
grades Junior Kindergarten to 6 gathered in the school gym to celebrate
and learn more about the upcoming literacy fundraiser. Student packages
containing a parent letter, a calendar, an order form, a pledge sheet
and an age appropriate flyer for book choices, were handed out to each
class teacher. The librarian, Mrs. Susan Carter, organized songs, poems
and an original rap performed by grade 5 students. What an exciting day
it was. This day however, was just the beginning of 17 days of reading
30 minutes daily. Students went home pumped and excited to begin their
quest for pledges, and to tackle the challenge ahead.
On January 23rd, Kelly, Barb and Cynthia met at
the school to collect each classroom envelope. Hats off to the
participating teachers who kept all of the pledge forms and money
organized. After 2 days of counting, the school had over $13,000 in
pledges. Each student had picked their books and marked them on the
order form located on the back of their pledge form. Many families
checked out our on-line catalogue to choose their books. Mrs. Carter was
in for the biggest shopping spree of her life. She had a great time
stocking the shelves with these incredible books. What an amazing
success it was.
Finally, on February 13, just in time for
Valentine’s day, the eager children came class by class to the library
to pick up their books. Each teacher received 8% of their class total,
so they were rewarded too. We also had a free book draw for each
participating class. What an exciting day it was in the Winchester
library.
We have to thank Mrs. Susan Carter, our Winchester
librarian for the vision she had in this read-a-thon. What an
inspiration she was to us as UBAH consultants. Thank-you also to home
office staff for working through our order.
For those of you out there who say wow, they had
amazing results, know that you too can achieve amazing success. Anything
is possible with a little team work and effort.
