Bookmobile News

For me, there are few greater pleasures in this life than being part of the growth of the next generation.  And so it was as I received an invitation to come speak to the 5th and 6th grade students at Santa Rosa Accelerated Charter School in Rincon Valley.  Teacher Leslie Loopstra had read about the bookmobile and proposed to not only ask if I could come show the kids the vehicle, but to take immediate action on our behalf.  Before I knew a thing about it, the children, their families, and the staff at SRACS started a book drive and held a bake sale to benefit our service.  This is education of the highest caliber – raising awareness of what is really happening in our world and then organizing significant, constructive participation in it.

The kids ran excitedly out in their fuzzy slippers to greet me (this was both their Read Across America Day AND Pajama Day) as I drove in.  An assembly was called and it was my distinct honor to speak to over 100 students about the story of the bookmobile and community service in general.  One girl held up a book of Grimm’s Fairy Tales she had found on our shelves the previous weekend at the Health Fair.  Several students surrounded me after the talk to describe how much they love to read.  All of them got a chance to come on board and check out the bookmobile interior.  Comments included “This is soooo cool!”, “I want to live in here forever”, and “Man, you could make this into an awesome taco truck!”.  As I prepared to depart, they presented me with bags and boxes of fantastic children’s books, as well as $281 their families had raised selling cookies and brownies!  Just what we need most as we prepare for expansion of services: books for little ones and funding for our outreach operations.

Huge thanks to the SRACS community for these gifts, and indeed, for the best gift of all, the opportunity to be involved in the students’ education.

Glen Weaver, Director