| Special Projects
Special projects are created to satisfy the stated needs of a specific population.
These are a few recent projects:
Marine Toys for Tots
To end 2007 on a high note, Success Won’t Wait volunteers organized two major donations to the Marine Toys for Tots program. In November, over 700 brand new children’s books and coordinating merchandise were donated in Sussex County, Delaware at a toy drive coordinated by Froggy 99.9 radio personality April Brilliant. In December, a second donation of 500 brand new books was made at a drive organized by WDEL, a radio station in New Castle County, Delaware. The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation provides happiness and hope to disadvantaged children who might otherwise be overlooked at the holiday season. 2007 marked the 60th anniversary for the Toys for Tots tradition of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. In 2006, Toys for Tots delivered more than 19.2 million toys to over 7.6 million children.
Mayor Baker’s Books and Bikes
In December, Success Won’t Wait volunteers coordinated with Wilmington, Delaware Mayor James Baker to donate 100 books to deserving young children in the City of Wilmington. The books were part of a donation by the City to provide new bikes for the youths during the holiday season.
Garnet Valley Elementary School, Garnet Valley Pennsylvania
To start the 2007-2008 school year off on a positive note, we donated over 100 books to the Garnet Valley Elementary School located in Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania. The books were chosen to appeal to 2nd grade students and were earmarked for in-class use as well as the Accelerated Reader (AR) program.
Red Clay Consolidated School District, New Castle County, Delaware
The Red Clay Consolidated School District, located in New Castle County, Delaware is undergoing a budget crisis, which has left all departments and programs short of money for extra expenditures. To assist both librarians and classroom teachers, we asked staff to create books wish-lists. In 2007, hundreds of books were donated to the following schools: H.B. DuPont Middle School, Stanton Middle School, Skyline Middle School, Highlands Elementary School, Forest Oak Elementary School, and Richardson Park Elementary School.
Delaware Hospice, Festival of Trees, Hockessin, Delaware
Each year, Delaware Hospice organizes a fundraiser called the Festival of Trees. This exciting event is eagerly anticipated by residents throughout New Castle County, Delaware and raises substantial funds for the non-profit. In addition to entrance fees for the event, a “gift shop” also raises much-needed monies. In November 2007, Success Won’t Wait donated 100 new and like-new hardbound books for sale at the shop. The response was tremendous and a similar donation to the Kent and Sussex County events is already slated for 2008.
Mowlds Cottage, Ferris School, Wilmington, Delaware
In 2007, we donated several hundred books to the residents of Mowlds Cottage at Ferris School. The Ferris School for Boys is a state-of-the-art juvenile secure care facility for 80 adjudicated delinquent males who are committed by Family or Superior Court. Mowlds Cottage is a six week transitioning program which enables youth to be successful when placed back into the community. The donation included much-needed items for in-class and independent study such as encyclopedias, atlases, dictionaries, thesauri, and the classics, as well as popular novels for pleasure.
Cecil Manor Elementary School, Elkton, Maryland
In November 2007, a request was made to provide high reading level books for the 3rd grade students of Cecil Manor Elementary. Great care was taken to provide a large selection of books that would challenge the advanced readers, but which contained topics and themes that were still age-appropriate. These books were destined for in-class use, Accelerated Reading (AR), and reading for pleasure.
Derek Jeter’s Turn 2 Foundation, Inc., New York, New York
Founded by baseball legend Derek Jeter, the Turn 2 Foundation partners with the New York City Parks and Recreation Department to administer four-free After School Programs that reach almost 400 children in the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. In fall 2007, we donated several hundred books to this outstanding program. Plans for further donations to the numerous other outstanding Turn 2 projects are currently underway.
Academy of Dover Charter School, Dover, Delaware
This is a fledgling charter school in Kent County Delaware. Over 250 general library books (grades K-5th) were provided to replace books which had been lost through water damage to the school.
Baylor Women’s Prison, New Castle, Delaware
This spring/summer (2007) we donated over 1,000 to Delaware’s women’s prison. This is the 3rd time we have donated books to the prison. Based on stated needs by the director, Mr. O’Neill, and the prison’s chaplain, we compiled a donation including bibles and faith-based literature, as well as novels and general interest fiction. Another donation is planned, as the prison’s reading room/library is currently undergoing a much needed renovation.
Edison Elementary, Wilmington, Delaware
This downtown Wilmington elementary school received a 100 book donation in winter of 2007. The books, geared toward K-5th grade students were used in a reward program. The program was so successful that our contact there has become a valuable volunteer and has placed many children’s book baskets for us in an area where we previously had limited coverage.
Elbert Palmer School, Wilmington, Delaware
Teachers from the school contacted us and asked for summer 2007 reading materials for their students. This school services low income families and has a high proportion of non-native English speakers. In addition, most students are from an area that is not within easy walking distance of a public library. The books donated will help keep them reading over the summer. The teachers gave us an exact breakdown of students by grade and three books were provided for each student for a total of over 800 books.
H.B. duPont Middle School, Hockessin, Delaware
This middle school requested new or like-new books (50 books) which were to be used as rewards. The program was developed by the school librarian to increase participation and reward good behavior.
Hockessin Athletic Club, Hockessin, Delaware
The daycare center at the Hockessin Athletic Club received over 200 new and almost-new books for the pre-K children. These will be used for in-class instruction as well as free time reading/play by the children.
Lutheran Hope House, Bear, Delaware
The Lutheran Hope House runs a government subsidized, non-denominational pre-school for low income families. 150 new books were donated for a student holiday party. The books were signed from Santa and were wrapped gifts for the children’s holiday party.
Methodist House Daycare, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Over 200 books were donated to this daycare center which assists low-income families. The books will be used for in-class instruction as well as free time reading/play by the children.
Methodist House Permanent Housing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Almost 300 books were provided for this permanent housing facility. Books spanned all ages and interests and will add a much-needed on-site mini-library to the facility.
North Philadelphia Head Start, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Head Start program is a well known national success story, helping low income families with everything from proper nutrition to childcare practices to school readiness. The North Philadelphia branch contacted us and asked for help in setting up a small library area where parents could read aloud to their pre-K aged children. 425 pre-K books were donated.
PAL of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Two separate donations of 1,000 books each have been made to the PAL (Police Athletic League) of Philadelphia, with an addition 700 planned for fall 2007. PAL of Philadelphia has 27 locations throughout the city. Each location receives new or like-new books which are used in a rewards program. This was a particularly gratifying donation because our contact, Lieutenant Susan Slawson, told us that some of these children (ages 7-18) have never owned a book!!!
Richardson Park Elementary, Wilmington, Delaware
Over 350 children’s books (K-4th grade) were donated to Richardson Park Elementary to kick off the school year in September 2006. Richardson Park students are from an economically depressed area and the school has a high concentration of non-native English speakers. The library had undergone a major renovation over the summer of 2006 and we were able to stock in with an assortment of new books.
Salvation Army, Wilmington, Delaware
Over 200 books were donated to a tutoring program run by the Salvation Army in downtown Wilmington. A mini-library was created for these students which houses books of general interest. The goal is to motivate the students to read for pleasure, thereby increasing speed, vocabulary, and general reading proficiency.
Turner Middle School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
This middle school (grades 6-8th) is located in one of North Philadelphia’s poorest sections. Two separate donations were made of 150 books each for a total of 300 books. These new and like-new books were used as rewards for good behavior, completed homework, and participation. The initial donation was so successful and the students were so enthusiastic that a second was made and the program will be implemented permanently, with donations every few months during the 2007-2008 school year.
Urban Promise, Wilmington, Delaware
In 2007, we have donated over 500 books to this inner city school in Wilmington. In 2006, we made a general library donation for the growing school, which services low income families (grades K-3). And this spring we donated over 300 books to the tutoring component of the organization which works with middle school and high school aged kids in the community. Many books from Prestwick House Publishing (an educational publisher in Smyrna, Delaware) were donated for college prep, SAT prep, and basic high school literature.
Wilmington Weed and Seed Program, Wilmington, Delaware
This unique program is part of a national initiative that targets high crime neighborhoods. Basically, its focus is taking neighborhoods back from drug dealers and gangs. The “weed” part means that local community leaders work hard to weed out bad influences and clean up neighborhoods. The “seed” part means that they “seed’ their neighborhood with positive influences. The Wilmington program offers free tutoring to middle school and high school children from the area. Over 200 books were donated including teacher’s materials for the tutors, classic literature, textbooks, and SAT and college prep materials.
WorldTeach, Chile
We were contact by Stephen Tippet, a young teacher, who was on his way to Chile to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) in the country of Chile. He read about us in a newspaper article and asked for books to help him on his mission. He actually came to our office and we searched through the stacks together to choose just the right variety of books. Over 350 were donated including a wide variety of age categories and language proficiency levels.
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