Santa Rosa - Better World Books Blog - Book Reviews, Author Interviews, Community Outreach & more

Funds Raised for Global Literacy:

$10,184,799.20

Books Re-Used or Recycled:

63,271,794

Update from the NCFL

Posted by admin on 10.29.2007 at 10:10 am

The following is an official release from the NCFL in regards to our visit to the Santa Rosa school this summer:

In August, a team of eight Better World Books staff, along with NCFL Senior Director Emily Kirkpatrick, Development Specialist Andrea Peters, and Training Specialist Kim Jacobs, helped the Santa Rosa Family and Child Education (FACE) program get ready to welcome students for the new school year.

The FACE program, sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Education, offers educational services to American Indians on 39 reservations. Santa Rosa serves families on the Tohono O’odham Reservation in Arizona. NCFL has provided training and technical assistance to the FACE program since its inception in 1991. Better World Books was already familiar with the FACE program after donating thousands of books to all the sites last year. Many programs used those books for incentives, prizes, gifts, and to build classroom and school libraries.

This summer, Better World Books staff were ready to get their hands dirty—literally. They helped prepare the Santa Rosa dorm for students, mowed and raked, cleaned graffiti off playground equipment, set up computers, and distributed additional donated books. They also had an opportunity to observe the opening days of the program.“In addition to being able to really get to see and understand the FACE program in action and better appreciate NCFL’s role in helping to architect the program, we all had the chance to pitch in and help get the Santa Rosa School itself “in shape” for the opening day of school,” said Better World Books CEO David Murphy. “We were humbled by the experience.”

FACE staff were appreciative of everyone’s efforts. “Without the help of this team,” said Sister Val Beuke, the Santa Rosa FACE coordinator, “our room would never have been so perfectly ready for the little ones.”

Read more about the NCFL-Better World Books partnership.

Have your say » | Tagged Impact, Our Partners, Better World Books in the field, FACE, NCFL, Our Partners, santa rosa

Smiling Faces in the Southwest

Posted by admin on 09.25.2007 at 9:12 am

Aaron I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the Santa Rosa School on the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation in the Sonoran Desert.

Our day to day work at Better World Books often feels like just a regular business, so it is always exciting and enriching to be able to see the areas where the money we raise is actually used; it was a great reminder of just how necessary our work is.I spent my first day there doing landscaping around their dormitory, where many of the kids stay who come from afar. It was a hot, grueling day in the sun but definitely worth every minute of it when I saw the smiling children the rest of the week.

I was thoroughly impressed with the FACE program; it’s an innovative concept, bringing children and their guardians to the school together. Parents and Grandparents could work on projects in one classroom, ultimately working towards getting their GED, while the children would work and play in another classroom. All throughout the day, they had prearranged times for the children and their guardians to come together and the kids could immediately show what they were learning. This approach that promotes education and family togetherness at the same time seems destined for success, making it enjoyable for all to come to the school daily.