Hills Elementary receiving new books from Assistance League of Bakersfield members, Assisteens and Community Volunteers
To celebrate Make A Difference Day, Assistance League of Bakersfield and volunteers from Aera Energy haded out over 300 books to students Saturday.
The event was part of the national Assistance League’s Legacy of Literacy book drive. This is the second time the local chapter has participated, and volunteers hope to make it a yearly tradition.
“They were very good to us,” said public relations chair Dona Chertok about the community response.
The Event was held at the Stella Hills Elementary School cafeteria, where students and their families were invited to choose books and read together.
“You want to reach as many kids as possible. It was a really successful event,” Chertok said.
Books for the project were donated by Assistance League members, Aera Energy, the Kern Literacy Council and members of the community. Assistance League collected over 500 but donated 200 elsewhere.
Helping students has always been a passion for Assistance League of Bakersfield. Charter member Ruth Ann Montgomery started Operation School bell in 1956 to help provide clothing to children in low income families. It eventually got picked up by the national Assistance League and became their signature philanthropic program in 1997.
Make A Difference Day was founded by USA Today’s late sister publication USA Weekend in 1992 as a way to encourage community service. Leap Day of that year fell on a Saturday and the magazine encouraged readers to spend the “extra” day helping others. Since then it has been held on the fourth Saturday of October.
Sponsor of this year’s event include USA Today, its parent company, Gannett, Points of Light, and Newman’s Own Inc.
by Jon Nelson, jnelson1@bakerfield.com
