For the past three years, the John Hoyle Chapter has provided history-themed books to the Catawba Co. Department of Social Services for children who qualify for their backpack program. The backpack program sends food home for the weekend with students who are in poverty or who have unstable support systems at home. Many have no reading material at all in their homes, and our objective is to give them one book that could be theirs to read or look at over the summer. The books chosen tie in with JCDAR's mission of promoting American history to students; however, there is a limited number of American history books published for elementary school children, so some of the books reflect world history or historical events that have impacted everyone.
The books were purchased at Ollie's or through First Book, an on-line book marketplace that serves children from low-income families, in addition to others. Many schools and non-profit organizations use First Book, and because JHCDAR is also a non-profit organization, our chapter was able to qualify for substantial discounts.
John Hoyle Chapter supports students at Longview Elementary and Southwest Elementary, and 120 shiny new books appropriate for grade levels K-1, 2-5, and 6-8 will be delivered to our contact Amanda
Freeland, Backpack
Program Coordinator/Social Worker III, Prevention
Unit, Catawba
County Social Services in May.
