The United Way is generating community involvement and powering literacy through the Big Red Bookshelf Project.
This is an ongoing project that started in January of this year. It was created in an effort to increase childhood literacy by providing new or gently-used books to children ranging from the ages of newborn – third graders.
Executive director Robert Maxey explained that the Mansfield Senior High CAD class drafted the designs of the big red bookshelves. Those drawings were then taken to Madison High School and the carpentry students built and painted the shelves. “We’re looking for ways to involve the younger people in the community, so we pulled in two different schools,” Maxey stated.
Community members can get involved in this project by donating their new or gently-used books to any of these locations: the YMCA, WIC, and Job and Family Services offices in Mansfield.
Maxey said, “We intend to continue to build bookshelves and place them in locations where children and their parents are exposed to them. It’s been a big success so far. About 1500 books have gone through.”
He also commented on the significance of this project and stated, “All the people in education tell us that the kids need to be prepared. A pretty significant amount of kids are not prepared when they enter school so we are trying to help bolster that.”