Friday, November 4, 2011

800 Books, Author Visit Donated

This week approximately 500 children's books were donated to the supervised visitation program at FSU. A good portion of these books came from Maclay School, an independent school in Tallahassee with a college preparatory curriculum for young people from Pre-School (ages 3 & 4) through 12th grade and a strong dedication to service. Others came from private donations. The books will be shipped all over the state and will be put into the hands of underprivileged children -- of all ages -- who are not currently residing with their parents. This is a wonderful opportunity because the books can be hand-picked and given as gifts to individual children who need them most.

On Nov. 3, the brilliant and ebullient author Laurel Snyder spoke to 300 students at Bonita Springs Elementary, a Title I school in Bonita Springs, FL. Every child got a free copy of one of Laurel's books -- www.laurelsnyder.com. The Maclay School made this visit possible because of their generous donation this spring. Laurel was in the area as a speaker and workshop leader at the Sanibel Island Writers Conference. And so this completely free author visit was the result of a group effort between The Sanibel Island Writers Conference, run by Tom Demarchi; Maclay High School's students' fundraising efforts led by the chair of their English Department, Lee Normant; Bonita Springs Elementary and their principal David Short; of course, Laurel Synder, who donated her time and energy, and Kids in Need - Books in Deed who pulled all of these wonderful, generous people together.

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