PCES receives grant from author James Patterson
GUILFORD — Piscataquis Community Elementary School (PCES) received a grant from bestselling author James Patterson to support its school library. In addition, the Scholastic Reading Club will match each dollar of Patterson’s donation with “bonus points” that teachers can use to acquire books and other materials for their classrooms. PCES was selected from 27,924 applications for funding grants.
Photo courtesy of PCES
LIBRARY ADDITIONS — Gavyn Gilbert, left, and Jaida Campbell show the new books purchased for the PCES school library with the monies received from a James Patterson grant. The bestselling author and Scholastic Reading Club both have provided funding for schools across the country, including PCES in Guilford.
As part of an ongoing effort to keep books and reading a No. 1 priority in the U.S., Patterson, together with the Scholastic Reading Club, made a commitment to help save school libraries nationwide. With grants ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 allocated to each of the 467 selected schools.
Charlotte Violette, library ed tech for PCES, requested $3,000 to purchase a new set of the Eye Witness Series books and a self scanner. “Just about every student in this school has used a book from this series at one time or another,” she said. “The set we had was falling apart and the cost was prohibitive to purchase a new set. This grant has enabled us to buy a new series and a scanner to help teachers easily access library resources when the library is not manned.”
“These grants are my humble acknowledgement of some of the terrific work taking place in libraries,” Patterson said. “Here’s to communities supporting school libraries. Here’s to a country that makes reading a priority. Here’s to flourishing libraries and a joyful holiday season.”
“It continues to be inspiring and motivating to work with James Patterson to support school libraries across the country,” said Judy Newman, president of the Scholastic Reading Club. “Jim’s unwavering commitment to helping children lead better lives rich with books is transformative. Scholastic is thrilled to be working in such an effective partnership.”
In the first-ever partnership of its kind, Patterson joined forces with the Scholastic Reading Club to administer funding applications to the network of 62,000 school and 800,000 teachers. Applicants were asked to fill out an online application posing the question, “What would your school library do with with $1,000 to $10,000?” The full list of grant recipients is at www.scholastic.com/pattersonparternership.
Any U.S. school was eligible to apply. Patterson hopes the high volume of requests will raise awareness for the problems facing school libraries. To learn more go to http:// mediaroom.scholastic.com/scholasticreadingclub and follow #PattersonPledge on social media.