Campbell 2nd-graders receive books from Junior League

By LEE MURRAY

TheNewsOutlet.org

CAMPBELL

Campbell Elementary School received a gift of several hundred books Tuesday from the Junior League of Youngstown.

The books were bundled into small stacks and will be handed out to second-grade students next week. The donation is to encourage independent reading over the summer vacation and to help students start building their own personal libraries.

Mary Jo Ugolini, a second-grade teacher at the school, said it is important for students to read at home. The donation helps students who do not have access to age-appropriate reading materials.

“You’d be surprised how many of them don’t have books at home” said Ugolini.

Laura Rumble and Debbie Hartig, members of The Junior League of Youngstown, presented the books to the principal, Robert Walls, and several teachers at the school.

The Junior League is a local charitable nonprofit organization that is dedicated to community volunteering projects. Rumble and Hartig are involved with the Done in a Day events through the organization.

“We encouraged our members to go through their bookshelves,” said Rumble, herself a former teacher. “We collected all the books at our May evening dinner, and a bunch of us got together and bundled them together.”

Walls had asked the Junior League members to present the books as individual gifts. Each bundle was gender-specific and geared to a second-grade reading level. The books were tied in a bow, and each bundle featured a Dr. Seuss quote and the school’s motto: “You’re not born a winner or a loser; you’re born a chooser!”

The Junior League has several ongoing charity drives, and its schedule remains busy.

“Every month we do a Done in a Day project volunteering for an organization,” said Rumble, “and this was our project for May.” Recent projects include a sponsored walk in March for Autism Speaks.

Campbell Elementary School received a two-year $600,000 grant from the William Swanston Charitable Fund last week and extension of a $300,000 grant received last year. One of the projects funded by this grant focuses on individual literacy. It was this focused effort toward improving reading skills that caught the attention of the Junior League of Youngstown.

The NewsOutlet is a joint media venture by student and professional journalists and is a collaboration of Youngstown State University, WYSU radio and The Vindicator.