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Volunteers Step Up to Reopen, Revitalize District School Libraries
by Lynn Selhat, for the Shuttle
Most of us can remember going to the library at our elementary school and the excitement of finding a book and checking it out. Unfortunately, many students in the School District of Philadelphia don’t have that experience because school libraries were shuttered due to budget cuts.
But here’s a bit of good news — over the last several years, volunteers from across the city have joined forces to reopen school libraries, including the one at John B. Kelly School in Germantown.

The library at Kelly reopened in 2016 through the efforts of Penny Colgan-Davis, a retired educator, and is once again a thriving part of the school. Volunteers, many of whom are Weavers Way members, read to classes, help students find books to check out, and get them excited about reading.
And their efforts have paid off. A fifth-grade student credited the program with sparking her interest in reading.
“When I was little, I did not like to read,” she said. “When I first went to the library and they let us take a book to read for two whole weeks, I was so excited!”
In addition to hosting classes throughout the day, the volunteers also provide one-on-one reading support to second grade students, according to Corinne Brady, a Co-op member and program coordinator who noted that many of the school’s “reading buddies” are also Co-op members.

In addition to their in-school efforts, volunteers have taken their mission out- side of school through their “Books on the Go” program. By relying on book donations from the community as well as from Cradles to Crayons (via the Salvation Army), the group has distributed thousands of free books throughout Northwest Philly through partners like the Boys and Girls Club and Face to Face Germantown, and at events like the Juneteenth festival at Germantown Cricket Club.

Brady is currently looking for volunteers to start in the fall. She was thrilled to find out that the Co-op will allow library volunteers who are working members to apply six hours of their yearly time at Kelly to their annual work hours.
Volunteers don’t need to have teaching experience, but they must go through training and submit required paperwork from the school district. The full volunteer packet can be found at www.philasd. org/face/volunteer.
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