Lubec Consolidated School No Longer Has a Librarian

Our Maine School Book Project, which is generously funded by the Stephen & Tabitha King Foundation, has begun shipping books for the new school year. The Project aids rural Maine schools which have been hit particularly hard with the economic downturn. Here is the first letter we have received from the “easternmost town in the U.S.”

Dear Mr. Mazor:

Lubec Consolidated School students and teachers are very appreciative of the books you have sent us through Reader To Reader’s Maine School Book Project. I spoke to a project representative just last week, and was very pleased to receive the latest box of books so quickly. Our budget allowance for new books is very limited, and the excellent assortment of titles will appeal to a wide variety of student interests.

Due to school subsidy cuts, Lubec Consolidated School no longer has a librarian, although the students and teachers do still use the resources of the school library. A volunteer has been keeping books in order, and the addition of new titles is very welcome.

Thank you for your support of our school.

Sincerely,
Margaret D. Bailey
Lubec Consolidated School
Lubec, Maine

400 Dictionaries, 400 Smiles!

On our recent trip to the Navajo reservation we learned of an urgent need for dictionaries.

Navajo Pine High School and Middle School were in desperate need of dictionaries. There were only a handful of dictionaries in both schools. We immediately went to work trying to solve this problem and fortunately we were able to deliver over 400 paperback dictionaries so every student would have one of their own.

The dictionaries came through the generous donation of the Rotary Club of Amherst.

Rotary clubs are big supporters of literacy and donate thousands of dictionaries to projects worldwide. The Rotary Club of Amherst responded to our call for dictionaries without a moment’s hesitation and we owe a special thanks to the Rotary Club and Leslie Smith for making this great resource available.

Here is a note from Navajo Pine:

“Well, I can't thank you enough! 8 boxes of 24 where just delivered to my classroom! You and your group are outstanding. Thank you again. The students will benefit tremendously. They will also be sending the thank you notes along soon.

Thank you again."

Linda L. Brown
Language Arts Teacher
Navajo Middle School
Navajo, NM

Corinna Lopez Joins Reader To Reader Staff

Bowdoin graduate Corinna Lopez will be spending her first year after college as our newest staff member. Corinna will be the Assistant to the Executive Director, helping coordinate next month’s trip to Amherst by Navajo Pine High School students, and lending a much needed hand to a host of other projects.

Corinna has a special history with Reader To Reader. When our organization was in its infancy, Corinna was our first community volunteer. She came dutifully every day after high school to help sort and pack books. We are so pleased to welcome her to our paid staff. We hope she has a great year and know we will with her on board.

The Entire Kiley Staff Appreciates Your Gift

Dear David,

Thank you so much for your extremely generous donation of all the books. They are absolutely beautiful! We have distributed most of them to classroom libraries and kept a couple of each title for our school library.

The entire Kiley staff appreciates your gift.

Thanks again!

Martha Cahillane
Assistant Principal
Marcus Kiley Middle School
Springfield, MA

Goodbye to New Mexico

The Navajo Mentoring Program team poses for a group photo after riding the world’s longest aerial tram to the top of Sandia Peak in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The observation deck sits at an altitude of 10,378 feet, offering our group a chance to look out at the 11,000 square-mile panoramic view of the Rio Grande Valley. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to gaze out and think about all we had done on our trip.

When in Gallup Eat at Jerry’s

On our drive back from the Navajo Reservation, the Navajo Mentoring Program team stopped for lunch at Jerry’s Café in Gallup, New Mexico. The food was terrific! The service warm and friendly. A small mom and pop-sized restaurant, Jerry’s Café is the kind of charming, unadorned eatery that draws crowds of locals who not only eat Jerry's outstanding Mexican food on-site, but line up to pick up big boxes of take-out food.

Our entire trip was a learning experience and at Jerry’s we learned about the Sopapilla.

Sopapillas are a fried dough that is a New Mexican specialty. We ate them stuffed with beans and chicken and smothered in a smoky red sauce and a tasty tomatillo green sauce until we were stuffed. Really stuffed.

When in Gallup, eat at Jerry’s!

Dazzled By Dancers and Drummers

At the community dinner held in honor of the Navajo Mentoring Program, we were honored to see a dazzling performance of Navajo dancers of all ages. The dancers are some of the finest in the world and have performed all over the world, including performances in France and Amsterdam.

A week after the community dinner, the dancers competed at the annual Navajo Nation Fair. The fair draws over 100,000 people and is the largest inter-tribal powwow in North America. Many of the dancers we saw placed first in their respective categories in the dance competition.

Navajo Pine High ’s GATE program teacher, Richard Donahay, finished our evening with an amazing dance and only a few days later was voted the top dancer over all at the Navajo Nation Fair.

It was a tremendous honor to see the dance demonstration, to hear the drumming and to learn about Navajo dances and songs, and to be welcomed so warmly by the community.