On the weekends of Oct. 24 and Nov. 1, Silicon Valley Sunshine Interact Club constructed over 150 wooden book cubbies for students at The Primary School in East Palo Alto. The Bring Me a Book Foundation and the Palo Alto University Rotary Club hosted the Book Cubby Assembly event alongside Sunshine Interact. The cubbies are to be filled with books mainly provided by Bring Me a Book, as well as $900 worth of donations from Sunshine Interact, in addition to $300 from the club president, Paly senior Jerry Zhang, and 60 books from the secretary, Harker freshman Sydney Ling. The cubbies will be filled with books and will be delivered to the Primary School prior to a Nov. 17 literacy event for kindergarten and first-grade students.
Over the past few years, the club has initiated many service projects and events, a few major ones including traveling to a Salvation Army in Paradise to help the fire survivors in 2019, and hosting a music festival to also help the Paradise fire survivors. The Bring Me a Book Project is another significant one, as Sunshine Interact has collaborated with Bring Me a Book Foundation since 2018, working to bring books to local children who do not have the resources to have them. The Book Assembly event is the latest project for the collaboration, where Sunshine Interact members as well as Rotarians worked side by side to create the cubbies.
As the volunteers finished building the cubbies, Judy Koch, Founder and President of Bring Me a Book and member of the Palo Alto University Rotary Club, told them that, “Getting to see these kids see their cubbies filled with books is really such a treat. These kids get to paint these cubbies with colors and drawings to really make it theirs. I’ve had parents tell me how whenever they have guests, the kids will excitedly ask if they can show them their book cubby, and proudly show it to them.” Building the cubbies and giving books to students who need them is a rewarding experience, and educational resources have been in high demand for the past few months. As the Covid-19 pandemic has largely affected and continues to impact learning, especially for less privileged students, the need for educational service projects such as the Book Assembly event is important as ever.
Palo Alto Weekly media coverage:
Around Town Volunteers Make a difference by building book cubbies