Monfredo: Worcester’s ‘City that Reads’ Book Drive Needs Your Help
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Anne-Marie and John Monfredo, who have collected 13,000 books at the half way point of the 'Worcester: the City that Reads' book drive.
Paying it forward
The kick off for the eighth annual book drive by Worcester: the City that Reads Committee to collect books (Pre-K to grade 8) for summer reading began in March during “Read Across Worcester Week.” It’s an attempt to promote literacy in our community, put books into the hands of children lacking in those resources and to promote the importance of being a life time reader. In seven years the group has given out over 170,000 books to the children in this community! Again, this year we still need your assistance if we are to meet our goal of collecting 30,000 books. The drive is basically a way for so many of us to “pay it forward” and assist those children in need. It’s a lot of work but an easy sell to the community for everyone knows about the importance of literacy in the lives of our children.
Reading is a right, not a privilege
Reading isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity. Reading ability doesn’t just translate to success in academics. It can also be the crucial factor that determines whether a child will succeed in life. As Americans we should be embarrassed about illiteracy and we should all be working to do something about it. We have to make literacy a priority. Giving children the necessary tools to build strong literacy skills also gives them the tools to succeed in life.
Thus, it starts by making everyone aware of the importance of literacy and by putting books into the hands of children. The more books children read, the faster their vocabulary is expanded. Books help them to learn new words and new ways of using the words that they already know.
As a life long educator, I am very passionate about literacy and in this small way hope that the book drive will serve as a wakeup call to the community and to all parents about the importance that it plays in the life of a child.
Drop off sites
Please help us with this book drive. More drop off sites have been added this year as well as more groups have come forward and are conducting their own book drives for the cause.
Please donate a new or gently used books, Pre-kindergarten to grade 8, at the following sites from no to May 15th.
- People’s United People’s Bank (all six city branches) including the town of Shrewsbury, Marlboro and Leominster
- Worcester Public Library
- Commerce Bank (all four city branches) including Holden
- Bay State Savings Bank (all branches)
- Bank of America (at Tatnuck Square)
- TD Bank (all branches)
- Stop and Shop on Lincoln Street
- Stop and Shop on Grafton Street
- Stop and Shop on West Boylston Street
- Shaws Market on West Boylston Street
- Shaws Market at Webster Square
- RSVP and the Senior Center on Vernon Street
- Worcester Credit Union
- Starbucks Coffee on one West Boylston Street
- Panera’s on West Boylston Street
- Austin Liquor at Gold Star Blvd
- DCU Center and the Worcester Sharks
- Jewish Community Center on Salisbury Street
- Leader’s Way – Kung Fu Academy on Burncoat Street
- Greendale YMCA
- Main Street YMCA
- Bagel Inn on Main Street in Holden, Ma.
- St. Vincent’s Hospital at the entrance door on Summer Street
- Summit Elder Care on Grafton Street
- Worcester Public Schools School Committee Office – 20 Irving Street
- Anne Book Shop on James Street
Other book drives
In addition, as of this writing the following businesses and organizations will be having their own book drive in an attempt to assist the children of Worcester. We hope more organizations will also join in.
- Scholastic Books…
- UMass Medical
- Worcester Public School High Schools… Burncoat High, Doherty High, North High, South High, Claremont Academy, University Park Campus and Worcester Technical High.
- Wachusett District
- Bancroft School
- St. Peter-Marion
- Holy Name High School
- St. John’s High School
- Notre Dame Academy
- Worcester Academy
- Venerini Academy
- Colleges – WPI, Holy Cross, Clark University, Becker College, Assumption College, Worcester State University, Anna Maria College, Mass College of Pharmacy, Quinsigamond Community College, and Salter College
- Boy Scouts
- Hanover Insurance
- Harvard Pilgrim
- Little leagues of Worcester
- UNUM insurance
- Fairlawn Rehabilitation Hospital
- UMass Memorial
- Wilson Language Training Center
- You, Inc.
- Congregation B’Nai Shahum
- The following colleges and universities: WPI, Clark University, Holy Cross College, Becker College, Worcester State University, Anna Maria College, Assumption College, and Mass. College of Pharmacy, and Salter College, and Quinsigamond Community College.
A listing of these sites and additional sites can be accessed by going to the following websities:http://www.worcpublib.org" target="_blank"> http://www.worcpublib.org OR www.worcesterpublicschools.org
For more information, or if other schools or businesses are interested in helping out please call John or Anne-Marie Monfredo at 508 853-3444. Remember, everyone can help in this most worthwhile community service project and bring the joy of reading to every child. Remember no skill is more crucial to the future of a child or to a community, than literacy.
Related Slideshow: Central MA School Districts with the Highest Teacher Evaluations
During the 2012-2013 school year, Race to the Top (RTTT) districts in Massachusetts were required to implement the new Educator Evaluation framework with at least 50 percent of their educators district-wide. Of Central Massachusetts’s 52 school districts, 26 implemented the Educator Evaluation structure. These 26 school districts are listed below ranked from the lowest teacher evaluation score to the highest. Keep reading to see where your district’s teachers rank, as well as to view the state and regional averages.
State Average
Central MA Average
#26 Quaboag
#25 Oxford
#24 Uxbridge
#23 Fitchburg
#22 Westborough
#21 Lunenburg
#20 North Brookfield
#19 Millbury
#18 Blacktone-Millville
#17 Southbridge
#16 Worcester
#15 Webster
#14 Hudson
#13 Gardner
#12 Dudley-Charlton
#11 Northbridge
#10 Winchendon
#9 Bellingham
#8 Quabbin
#7 Grafton
#6 Ralph C. Maher
#5 Marlborough
#3 Auburn (Tied)
#3 Leominster (Tied)
#2 Wachusett
#1 Douglas
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