Hundreds of books collected as part of citywide drive
UMMS community responds to citywide effort to encourage summer reading
By Kristen O’Reilly
UMass Medical School Communications | May 9, 2011 |
Donna Manoogian and Susan Cooper from the Center for Health Care Financing in Charlestown created this display to encourage employees to participate in the Worcester: the City that Reads book drive. |
The UMass Medical School community donated hundreds of new and gently used books as part of the fifth annual book drive of Worcester: the City that Reads, which kicked off in early March. In conjunction with this citywide effort, the Office of Community & Government Relations collected books at multiple UMMS locations, including the Worcester and Shrewsbury campuses and the Schrafft Center in Charlestown.
The goal of Worcester: the City that Reads is to collect 25,000 books for donation to low-income Worcester students for summer reading. Books will be distributed to Worcester Public Schools students in June during Reading in our City Week. Last year, books were also distributed to a variety of agencies serving low-income children, including Head Start, African Community Education, the YWCA, United Way and others. Worcester School Committee member John Monfredo initiated the program and coordinates with local institutions.
Donna Manoogian, director of operations, and Susan Cooper, administrative assistant, from the Center for Health Care Financing (CHCF) organized the drive at the Schrafft Center.
“The staff was thrilled to participate and the donations of books just keep coming,” said Cooper.
“Studies clearly indicate that children in homes that have books are more likely to succeed in school, while children who don’t have adequate reading skills are much more likely to drop out of school,” said Jim Leary, director of Community and Government Relations. “We were happy to participate in this worthwhile project.”
For more information, contact Kola Akindele or Glady (McRell) Ciciotte in the Office Community and Government Relations, at 508-856-4400.
Related Link:
Donate new and used books for Worcester kids