Lane Co HS delivers First Book
Lane County Head Start Chapter 600 members have distributed 2,400 high-quality children’s books to their students thanks to OSEA and AFT’s partnership with First Book.
Students served by Head Start in the county will receive two books each. Chapter Vice President Stacey Conrad noted that, with sites spread from Oakridge to Junction City, to South Lane County, Eugene and Springfield (just to name a few), the impact will be widespread. Since they serve students age 0-5, the books were oriented towards young children.
Chapter President Sherry Beach said the drive was a prime opportunity to show how OSEA members care about their students and their community.
Pictured are, from left, Nicole Williams, Kristina LeMay, Lisa Duble, Mariann Roldan, Evelyn Dahl, Shanna Matti, Shelly Fuller, Stacey Conrad, Sherry Beach and Lonnie Stone.
“These books all came from the union, and we wanted the kids to know that they came from OSEA and First Book,” Beach said. “Head Start is an agency serving low-income families, so this helps build a little library that they may not have been able to do on their own.”
Conrad said the event also served as a team-building exercise both within the bargaining unit and with their administration, which allowed the team to use a school bus to load up books.
And once the bus was unloaded, Head Start staff loaded it back up with food to be donated to a local charity.
“Christmas is coming, so we thought so long as we have an empty bus, let’s pay it forward,” Beach said.
Head Start members jumped on board with Sweet Home Chapter 7’s huge drive earlier this year, securing books for their own students by gathering 120 First Book registrations.
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