Woodburn Reads!
A young book reader looks through the Woodburn Reads! booth Oct. 30.
WOODBURN — With the help of numerous local businesses and high schools, children in Woodburn are now receiving books and literacy activities from a new coalition called Woodburn Reads!
Woodburn Reads! swung into motion in August of this year, when Kate Schedler of Wilsonville was brought on with the city of Woodburn as special programs manager. Schedler, an AmeriCorps member serving in the city of Woodburn, inherited the responsibility to coordinate a book drive for Woodburn Reads! along with other special programs such as supervising the two teen centers in Woodburn.
“There were a few members in the community who thought that it was important to get this literacy initiative off the ground,” said Schedler, who is also a grad student at George Fox University.
Funded by the Oregon Community Foundation, the literacy program also relies heavily on community involvement, which is where Schedler stepped in. For the September book drive, Schedler solidified book drop off sites at Banana Republic, West Coast Bank, Bi-Mart and the Woodburn Public Library.
Woodburn High School students also got involved though book drives at two of the small schools: Woodburn Academy of Art, Science and Technology (WAAST) and Woodburn Arts and Communication Academy (WACA), collecting over 700 books.
“The bulk of the work lied in picking (the books) up and getting them sorted and working with the high schools, trying to figure out a way to get students excited about the project and get those books collected and processed,” said Schedler.
Combining the school drive with the community book drive, over 1,300 books were donated and are currently being distributed to families throughout the community. The books are being given out at community resource nights, where Woodburn Reads! comes to set up a booth and lead a literacy activity.
The next community resource night Woodburn Reads! will attend is Dec. 3 at French Prairie Middle School at 6:30 p.m.
For more information about Woodburn Reads! contact Schedler at 503-982-5286.
