Merced children donate books to fledgling library
Students at Burbank Elementary gathered and donated nearly 2,000 books Friday to their peers at Rivera Elementary, which now has nearly tripled the size of its collection for students at the new campus.
The steady rain that fell Friday wasn’t enough to stop Rivera Elementary Principal Catherine Puckett from smiling as about a dozen children carried 1,813 new books into the library.
“Oh my gosh, I was stunned when they told me,” she said. “I was very, very grateful.”
Rivera Elementary opened this school year and the new library and administrative offices at the front of the school opened in late January. The school has about 1,000 books of its own and is working its way up to building a collection of 12,000 to 15,000.
The book drive and donation was the brainchild of the Burbank Elementary Parent-Teacher Club. “There’s something special about getting to go to the library and pick out a book,” club President Erin Lodwick said.
The adults came up with the idea, but the children did the legwork. Burbank students donated from their own collections or gathered books from friends and family during a weeklong drive.
Some brought in one title; others were able to find more. Elsa Van Dyke, a fourth-grader at Burbank, said she scrounged up about 50 books.
Getting involved in the book drive was an easy decision. “Our bookshelves are full, and Rivera needs them,” the 9-year-old said.
Burbank Principal Jerod Garst said the students at his school were aiming to collect 1,000 books and overshot the goal.
Oh my gosh, I was stunned when they told me. I was very, very grateful.
Rivera Elementary Principal Catherine Puckett
After about a year of construction, the Merced City School District completed the $7.3 million project to split Rivera Middle School into two campuses. While making Rivera into separate middle and elementary school campuses, the district added a new building, which includes the new library.
The district is working on buying more books for Rivera students, Puckett said.
Isaiah Davis, 12, a Rivera sixth-grader, helped carry the new titles into the library, which sported mostly bare shelves. He said he hopes the books are the beginning of a new trend.
“I hope, in a few years, we’ll have a lot more books than we do now,” he said.
Thaddeus Miller: 209-385-2453, @thaddeusmiller
This story was originally published March 11, 2016 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Merced children donate books to fledgling library."