NEWBERRY — The Newberry Jaycees will be holding a book drive all this week (Aug. 6-11) to collect books to donate to teacher classrooms in the Newberry County School District.
“We are looking for mostly children’s books, a lot of teachers have to fund their own classroom libraries, and we are looking to help them out,” said Joseph Berry, president of the Newberry Jaycees.
The idea to hold a book drive came during a brainstorming session the Jaycees were having on what some of the needs in the community were.
“Kinda just said, ‘hey what about this, I know a lot of teachers have to buy their own books for the classroom, that is something we can help out with,’ and we just went from there,” Berry said.
Books can be dropped off at the following locations:
USDA Service Center – 719 Kendall Road, Newberry
Newberry Supply – 2454 Wilson Road, Newberry
Creative Styling Salon – 2825 Main Street, Newberry
South State Bank – 999 Wilson Road, Newberry
The Newberry Jaycees will also be collecting books on Saturday, Aug 11 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. to take gently used books in person. After the books have been collected, the Jaycees will sort them and clean them and drop them off at schools within the District. Berry notes that any donated books need to be in good to fair condition, and they will not accept any book inappropriate for a school aged child. Young adult books can also be donated, they will be given to local high schools.
Berry has a goal of about 300 books for this drive.
“I encourage everyone to donate a book, it shows the community that they are committed to education and students success, and literacy is always a good cause,” he said.
Keep Newberry County Beautiful is assisting with this project.