Used Book Drive

The Halloween Distributions went perfectly. We were able to hand a book to each child. They presented so much enthusiasm. "This is my very own!?" was a common response when handed a book. And we were overjoyed to be able to respond to that with a "Yes, most definitely. This is your own!" It makes all of the incredibly time consuming paperwork worth so much.

We are in the process of scheduling two more distributions, and we also have another distribution planned for next Tuesday. Oh how much fun we have when we visit DREAM.

Right now, our BIG project is the Used Book Drive for Lighthouse Rescue Mission. It will be occuring now until Fri., Nov. 16. And we are accepting all fiction, non-fiction and children's books (textbooks are not our focus). If you have a chance, please donate. These books will be placed in the shelter's library, and giving a child or a mother, in hard times, a place to escape and dive into the journey of reading is such a special gift.

Peek-a-Boo!

Halloween is always a fun time for children. The weather is set at a chilling temperature, and candy is handed out by the masses. This year, First Book- Univ. of Southern Miss. hopes to make a difference by not only playing along with the children, but giving them a true gift... that outlasts candy and costumes.

On Oct. 26th, we will be taking part in the UAC Halloween Carnival. Children will have the opportunity to "fish" for their very own book - appropriately themed for Halloween of course! We will also be working at FNP's Halloween Carnival on Oct. 30th with the same game, giving away copies "Mommy?" by Maurice Sendak, author of "Where the Wild Things Are". This is the part of First Book that we really love. This is our purpose as a student organization, distributing "free" books to those who may never get the opportunity to own their own; hopefully making an impact one child a time.

Other upcoming events have been posted on the calendar, and we will go over them more in-depth, tonight at the member meeting (Thurs. Oct. 25th) at 8 in the Thad: 210.

A little time can go a long way

I'm not sure if everyone has heard, but First Book-University of Southern Miss has adopted what will be the library in the Lighthouse Mission Shelter.

Today was our first opportunity to work and we had a good bit of fun. We started prepping the gaping whole in the floor so that we can lay down the subflooring. We learned lots of technical jargon and were excited to use a few powertools ... yes we used powertools.

Eventually our goal is to help get it ready (floors, painting, cleaning, shelves, etc...) while simultaneously collecting used books. Books will be for all ages, but hopefully have a surplus of children's books. While this isn't the sole purpose of our organization, we [the board] did feel that it was a great cause that we didn't mind tackling. Please keep October 27th in your heads, because that will be the big day we hope to get a TON of stuff finished!

More calendared events will be posted after Friday so check back to see those!

Meeting: A Success!

Thanks to all who came to the meeting last Thursday. We were really blown away by the turnout and we are even more excited that YOU have decided to be a part of this great journey.

If you were not able to make it to the meeting, please email me at samantha.mccain@usm.edu and I will forward your name to Laura Beth, our Student Liason. From there, she will contact you with information about membership!

I have rescheduled the Hawkins Distribution for October 5, 2007. Laura Beth will be e-mailing out a sign up sheet for that event as soon as we receive more details.

Be sure to check the calendar for any new additions, and please join the facebook group if you have not done that yet.

Interest Meeting

Hi! If you have stumbled across this piece of web space, then you were intrigued enough by the idea of First Book. If that is the case, please know that you are welcome to attend our first Interest Meeting this Thursday (Sept. 13) at 7:30 in the TCC, room 218A. The meeting will be a general overview of what First Book is, and what it takes to be a member.

If you love to read, and the idea of putting brand new, FREE books into the hands of little children, then this is the service opportunity for YOU!

Calendar