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Community Book Drive and Donors Promise Nearly $50,000 for Title I Classroom Libraries
Summary
Organizers announced The Big Book Give and presented a check to the Leon County Schools Foundation; partners and donors including KPMG, Midtown Reader, Capital City Bank, St. John’s and a ‘100 Women Who Care’ group contributed cash and donated books with organizers projecting roughly $50,000 when pending grants are finalized.
Board members and community volunteers unveiled The Big Book Give, an initiative launched to address disparities in classroom-library holdings across Leon County Schools. Presenters said an inventory showed some schools with as few as 2,000 classroom books and others with as many as 32,000, prompting a targeted campaign to support Title I schools.
Organizers identified partner donors—KPMG (an initial $10,000 gift), Midtown Reader (matched donated books with new books), Capital City Bank (donation bins across branches), Target Print and Mail (printing/QR code support) and St. John’s (large donations of used books). A local chapter of a 100-women giving circle led by Virginia Glass contributed a sizable check; speakers said that contribution was $27,000 and that the total raised, including other pledges and pending grants, could approach $50,000 by the time allocations are finalized.
The board asked staff to coordinate distribution; the presenter said the foundation and district staff would work together to allocate funds and reported April 9 as a coordination date for Title I distribution. District staffers and volunteers were thanked for organizing logistics and for routing donations through the foundation to preserve tax-exempt status.
Board members and participating students posed for photographs and applauded the community effort; the board expressed appreciation and asked staff to report back next year on how many books were purchased and the resulting impact in classrooms.
