With the help of the Beaverton Education Foundation, William Walker Elementary school is providing over 1700 books to students at home to keep them reading and learning while school buildings are closed.
“Access to books at the right reading level is crucial for student progress and success and nearly impossible with school and public libraries closed right now,” said Rosanne Freer, a reading specialist at William Walker.
She joined forces with William Walker parent volunteer, Barbara Dusicka, to get books in the homes of some of the school’s most vulnerable students. “We are excited to distribute reading-level-appropriate kits to 103 students with an average of over 17 books per student,” Dusicka explained.
Originally, they hoped to raise $1000 but Beaverton Education Foundation stepped in to help with funds from their Learning Innovation Fund for Teachers and Students (LIFTS) Campaign. In just 24 hours the project reached its goal, and the campaign continued, ultimately raising $2230.
In tandem with the online fundraiser, Dusicka leveraged donations of new and slightly used books from SMART and private donors, as well as a Beaverton Rotary grant to purchase books for summer reading.
“This is a great example of how BEF, using the crowd-funding site Beaverton’s Choice can broaden community engagement to amplify the efforts of teachers, schools, parents, and PTCs to really benefit student learning,” said Kristine Baggett, BEF Executive Director. “We connect community to classrooms in order to bring work of front-line heroes like Rosanne and Barbara to fruition quickly and effectively.”
BEF launched LIFTS in mid-March in response to the pandemic that closed schools to help support staff-initiated projects during remote learning. They helped get school supplies, musical instruments, activity packs, and more so students can keep learning.
“The support of BEF toward our goal was incredible,” explained Freer. “This is such a blessing. Thank you so much for taking this on and helping us. The kids were so excited when we were able to give them all of these books.”
Founded in 1988, the Beaverton Education Foundation raises money to provide hands-on innovative academic enrichment and advancement programs & projects that go beyond normal school funding at all 53 Beaverton public schools and is a 501(c)(3) community-based nonprofit organization. BEF mobilizes community resources to fund innovative classroom, summer and after-school programs.