The Daybreak Rotary Club of Jersey City began its sixth annual “Give-A-Book” drive last week, hoping to again put a personalized book in the hands of every first grader in the public school district.
“For the past six years, we have been providing the children with copies of Peter Rabbit,” said Daybreak Rotary Club Treasurer Josephine Brescia. “The books are personalized for each of the students. They become the hero of the story and their friends and teachers are written into the narrative.”
This year, the Give-A-Book drive has expanded the number of books it will offer Jersey City’s first graders, from one to three. The new titles are “Jurassic Island and Me,” “Lion Cub and Me” and “My Favorite Toy Bear and Me,” according to Nancy Mingo, owner of Just For Me Books in Old Bridge, which manufactures the personalized books for Daybreak Rotary’s book drive.
“We have had the same story for the past five years,” Mingo explained. “This year, we wanted to go with something different.”
The Jurassic Island story details a class trip by first grade students and their teacher to Jurassic Island, a haven for dinosaurs.
“The owner of the book is the hero of the story,” Mingo explained. “He feeds gummy bears to the dinosaur and the monster takes the entire class to safety.”
Mingo added the other two volumes detail the reader’s adventures with a lion cub and an animated teddy bear, respectively.
“Ask any principal in any school we’ve been in for the last six years, and they’ll tell you they’re happy to get them,” said Norbert Gambuzza, a retired Jersey City print shop owner who has been working with the book drive since its start in 1997. “They have a big impact with the first graders.”
“The personalized books are a very good supplement to our Early Literacy Programs,” said Dr. Adele MacCula, the Jersey City assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. The ELP encourages grade school children to read a book a day.
“The books have a big impact because the children see their names and the names of their friends and teachers in the books,” MacCula added. “This encourages parents to read to the students and the students to read the parents.”
MacCula noted the benefit to the individual and corporate sponsors of the “Give-A-Book” drive.
“People from the sponsors come to the schools and deliver the books,” MacCula noted. “This gives them a chance to see the community and see the schools the students attend. The “Give-A-Book” grows annually and it only has a positive impact.”
The Daybreak Rotary Club starts its fundraising efforts to get the books printed at the beginning of the year, according to Gambuzza. At the same time, order forms are delivered to the schools for first graders to fill out.
“The kids will chose which title they want,” Gambuzza added. “The students write down their name, age, whether they are a boy or a girl, plus the names of friends and a teacher.”
Once the forms are collected, they are sent to Mingo, who feeds the information into the computer program which creates the books.
“It takes a lot of work to put this stuff together,” said Mingo. “Each book is individually proofread and bound.”
The other reason why Mingo and the club decided to vary the titles offered by the drive was repetition.
“Sometimes we would run into families that had three children,” said Mingo. “Each member of the family would get the same book every year.”
For the 2003 drive, the club has so far raised $1,500 and is looking forward to its yearly donation of $10,000 from Paine Weber, according to Brescia.
“Weber has been with us since the beginning and the company has always been a great help,” Brescia said.
Individual donations have also been made to the book drive, Brescia added.
“For the donors, it’s a win on all fronts,” Gambuzza stated. “There is a sponsor page in each book, which tells who paid for the book. It’s good public relations for the companies and they get to be involved in something good for the community.”
“In the case of individual donors, their money is put into a pool,” said Brescia.
More books to more kids
The books are manufactured at a cost of $12 each, but Mingo has always kept the price she charges the club to $10 per book.
“There are approximately 3,300 first graders in Jersey City,” Brescia said, adding that the reduction in price allows more books to get to more children.
According to Gambuzza, there has been a reduction in both the number of first grade students in the school system and the amount corporate donors are able to give.
“With the downturn in the economy,” Gambuzza commented. “Many of the brokerage houses have said they won’t be able to participate.”
In addition, Gambuzza added, some of the potential first graders have gone to the city’s charter schools, which the club does not have a relationship with at the present.
“We’re looking for anyone to make a donation to the drive,” Gambuzza said.
For more information of the “Give-A-Book” Drive, call Rotary Club President Kendall Sims at (201) 946-2700, ext. 312, or Brescia at (201) 434-1800.