In one of the store's annual charity book drives, customers at Statesboro's Books-A-Million were recently given the opportunity to purchase a book to donate for the Altrusa Club of Statesboro's Backpack Buddies literacy program. Together, over the course of the drive, customers donated more than 450 books, with a value of over $4,000.
Sales associates chose a variety of books to display at the register to make purchases as easy as possible. Customers were also able to make their own selections from the shelves.
Altrusa International's worldwide focus is literacy, and the Statesboro club regularly distributes free books to all pre-K students in Bulloch County, as well as to students ages pre-K to 5th grade in the Statesboro Backpack Buddies program.
Backpack Buddies began as a collaborative community effort between local church groups to provide children in Bulloch County with food and snacks to last them throughout the weekend, when free school lunch is not available. Susan Allen of First Baptist Church spearheaded the project, which now runs seamlessly among the churches.
After the inception of the program, Altrusa had the idea to incorporate books into the backpacks, as well. With the Bulloch County Board of Education's blessing, Altrusa began this effort in the backpacks at just a few schools, but it has now expanded to a new book each month for all students in the program.
"The first year, it started small with two or three schools, but it quickly expanded," said Karen Lavender, Altrusa member and co-coordinator of the effort. "The program has now just expanded beyond all imagination."
She noted that the club is currently giving out about 1,000 books per month to children in the county, as part of what it has named the Ruth MacKinnon Literacy Project.
The sorting and coding of the books each month is an ongoing and club-wide effort within Altrusa Statesboro, and the club is always in need of new and gently used book donations. The drive at Books-A-Million will be a huge boost to the club's book supply, and Lavender was overwhelmed by the community's response.
"I wish you could see some of the children's faces when they receive their own brand new books. It's so wonderful to them," she shared. "The support of the community was wonderful, and the support of Books-A-Million was excellent."
Altrusa International of Statesboro meets the first Monday of the month for its business meeting and the third Monday of the month for its program meeting. Both meetings are held at Pittman Park.
For more information on the Statesboro chapter of Altrusa, visit the club's website or Facebook page.
