Summer Satchels - DELIVERED !!!

The summer satchels have been delivered to the second graders at Alps Road Elementary. The kids were so excited. I learned a lot, such as:

1. Many second graders have nothing to read at home
2. Even art is difficult at home, as many do not have paper, scissors, or crayons
3. Fernando is spelled F-E-R-N-A-N-D-O
4. Spiders have babies
5. Teachers are surely angels come to earth

Here's how the process played out.

First I collected art supplies and books from donors, then purchased more supplies at the Dollar Store, and more books at Salvation Army and Goodwill. The Niolon family donated many of the art supplies, and my sister's coworkers at Foodbuy in Atlanta donated many of the books.


Here's an example of what went into each bag: a couple of books, an art pad, crayons, a puzzle book, and some math flash cards. I had planned to use plastic grocery bags, but Mrs. Niolon came up with the festive bag you see below.


The finished product. So much better than a plastic grocery bag!


I underestimated the difficulty in transporting the bags. There wasn't an inch of space left in my car.

The bags filled every table in the school library...

... and the kids came in, one classroom at a time. Their eyes lit up when they saw the fun bags, and I was soooo glad I hadn't used the grocery sack. I'm choked up just writing about it.

The kids had all the energy and enthusiasm you'd expect from 2nd graders. But I was caught off guard by their openness. Some told me they don't own a single book. Some asked if they could have more. Some asked "is this really mine? to keep???"

Class after class danced into the room, their eyes going straight to the bags. And I will admit it: I cried like an idiot and thanked the kids for allowing me the honor of giving them these bags.

It all started with one girl, making a comment to MK "I wish I had a book at my house". That's a situation that shouldn't be allowed to continue. All it took was adopting the entire 2nd grade class. These are real kids with real potential. If this tiny bag keeps even one student reading over the summer, that's one more student who'll start 3rd grade ready for action.

A special thanks to Bird and the folks at Foodbuy - without your books, each child would have only received 1 book. You doubled that for these kids. Thank you!

Thanks also to Mom, who purchased about 1/4 of the books with a single $10 donation.

And finally, thank you to the Niolons. Your support was a wonderful gift not only to the kids, but to me.

Summer Satchels are lookin' good!

Yesterday's efforts to secure items for the summer satchels got off to a rocky start. Working the phones is clearly not my forte.

So I headed out to look for books, thinking books to fit my budget would be hard to find. I was right. But I hit the jackpot at the Project Safe Thrift Store, where I scored about 25 books. Paperbacks were $.25 each and hardbacks were $.50 each. My mom snuck me a $10 bill on the way out the door that morning, and that's just about what the books cost - thanks Mom!

When I returned home I had a message that my long-time friends, the Niolons, had taken it upon themselves to purchase art supplies AND were exploring options for the bags themselves. My backup plan has always been to hand each kid a plastic grocery bag if I couldn't come up with something else. The "Niolon Touch" will ensure the kids get something better than that!

Things got even better when my sweet sister Bird informed me that books were coming out of the woodwork at Foodbuy, where she works. She'd sent out an email to her co-workers, and the books have been pouring in. She has close to 80 already, and it's only day 2.

So I'm starting today full of gratitude for friends and family, and I'm heading out to scour every thrift store in Athens. More later....

"Summer Satchel" update

Thanks everybody for the suggestions regarding the summer satchels for the 2nd graders at Alps Road Elementary. I'm back from the beach and today I'll be working the phones and following up on all the leads you've given me. I'll blog about the results; who knows, maybe somebody will want to repeat the process at another school.

I have 4.5 days to find items for- and then prepare - 80 satchels. Wish me luck!

How to Help a 2nd Grader

I need some serious help in the brain-power department right now. I have about 3 weeks to handle a problem that is keeping me awake at night. Here's the story:

MK joined a mentoring program, and mentors a 2nd grade girl who attends one of Athens' public schools. Let's call her Jane. Jane loves to read, but has no books at home. Jane loves to color, but has no crayons at home.

Jane has a good friend in class, let's call him Bob. Bob is soooo jealous that MK bought Jane a book and some art supplies. Turns out Bob has no books or art supplies at home either.

MK spoke to the teacher, and learned this is quite common. Some parents can't afford anything for the kids, some are illiterate themselves, and some just don't care. When I heard this I thought "why doesn't somebody DO something about this?"

Ummm... maybe I am the somebody who should do something. I thought very hard about it, and I just can't let these kids who love to read go home to a summer with no books.

Turns out that the mentoring program doesn't allow a single student to be given a lot of free stuff; just a few things kept at school. So I am attempting to adopt the entire 2nd grade class, and give them a "summer satchel" with books and art supplies for the summer. The satchel itself will probably be a grocery bag, but it's what's in the bag that's important.

And that's where I need your help. (No, not your money. Just your ideas.) I'm putting up my own money to do this. But I have no kids of my own so I have no idea what kids like to read, or whether they'd prefer magic markers to crayons.

So please, if you can spend 5 minutes thinking about it, let me know if you can answer any of these questions.

• Are there organizations out there already who help kids with books or art supplies?
• Can you recommend any specific book titles that are good for 2nd graders?
• Which is better: crayons or magic markers?
• Which is better: coloring books or blank paper?
• Any ideas what else should be in the bag?
• Are there any good sources for cheap books? Cheap art supplies?

Here's how to post your feedback:

1. Click the comment link at the bottom of this post
2. Write your comment in the box at the top right-hand side of the page
3. Below the comment box, choose item #3, and it will give you a space to enter your name.
4. Click publish.

You can also contact me at melaney @ gmail.com.

I look forward to hearing from you, and to making a difference in a few kids' lives this summer.