Girl Scouts bring books to inner- city kids
Published: September 12, 2006
It wasn’t just another summer at the beach for two Capital Region teens. Instead, Gabriella Romero and Lauren Burke, members of Girl Scout Troop 873, created a book-loan program for inner-city kids.
The idea came to Romero while working and volunteering at the Ernestina Dicioccio Bilingual Multicultural Day Care Center at Centro Civico Hispanoamericano on Green Street in Albany. Every day over the course of two weeks, Romero read books to the children, who ranged from 3 to 7 years old.
Romero was inspired by a girl who wasn’t able to go to a library but very much wanted to read one particular book, “Henry and Mudge,” by Cynthia Riley. So, Romero proposed the project to her friend and fellow Shaker High School freshman, Burke.
As part of the Silver Award Girl Scout community leadership project, the pair of 14-year-old Colonie classmates decided to work out a way to bring the library to the day care. They started collecting books in late July. By mid-August, they had about 500 volumes, all donated by their town library, several bookstores and retailers.
“We’re still getting books,” Burke said “We’re in the process of monitoring the books in the day care center, making sure they’re not misplaced or damaged.”
“There’s a really good sense of accomplishment,” Romero said. “Now most of the kids have a library that’s accessible to them. They’re developing a sense of responsibility because they have to care for the books and bags and make sure they come back safely.”
Each child can borrow up to five books at a time. “It felt really rewarding because the kids were so happy and excited to call the book their own.”
Burke said she and Romero have also developed interactive lesson plans for the children. Burke based hers on germs and sea animals. Romero’s lesson plans work with the ABCs and phonics.
To make sure their plans were up to snuff, two educational experts — a retired teacher and a third-grade teacher, Burke’s grandmother and aunt, respectively — reviewed the curriculum.
Now, Romero said, there’s a good possibility they can obtain a community grant supporting Centro Civico with the necessary educational materials, “all because of our volunteer efforts.”
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