Last fall, several reading students at Hillside Children’s Center’s Varick Campus participated in Classrooms Care, a philanthropic literacy program of Scholastic Books. Participating classrooms promised to read 100 books; the publisher committed to donate one million books to children in need throughout the United States.

Twelve thousand classrooms across the country completed their part of the program by reading 100 books. Scholastic Books then selected 200 of the participating schools to receive 500 free books each. The program was designed to allow the students to decide how the books should be distributed.

The Varick campus school was fortunate to be one of the 200 schools chosen to receive free books.

The Varick students decided to share the books in several ways. They donated some of the books to Crestwood Children’s Center’s Early Childhood Center. They also wanted every child on the Varick campus to choose a book to keep. They gave the rest of the books to the Varick school library to be enjoyed by students now and for years to come.

The books were displayed for three days in the Game Crib at the Varick Campus so students could browse the collection and choose a book to keep. According to Varick Reading Teacher Jayne Coffey, the youth were very excited about the books. “It was amazing,” she says. “We take it for granted that all kids have books. But our kids are in transition a lot and don’t always have things to call their own. So we made a big deal about this. We even put their names in their books.”

In late March, Jayne and fellow Reading Teacher Kristen Flynn-Comstock took students Jovon and Christina to present gift baskets of books to the students at Crestwood’s Early Childhood Center. Principal Dave Halpern thanked them wholeheartedly for the donation and presented framed certificates of appreciation. “This was the best part,” Jayne says. “Lots of times our kids are on the receiving end. They’re the needy ones. This was a chance for them to give something back and they were exciting about giving.”

The donation was also a boost to the Varick Campus school library. “We don’t have a budget to buy new books,” Jayne explains. “The only way we can expand the library is through donations. The books Scholastic [Books] sent us are beautiful, quality books. Most of them are hard covers. It’s a tremendous addition to the library.”