WEST PLAINS, Mo. – Twenty pallets of assorted books and video tapes awaited representatives from 24 area school districts, private schools and public libraries who traveled to Missouri State University-West Plains Wednesday morning, Sept. 12, to gather much needed textbooks and resource materials for their collections.
The books were donated by the Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) in Corbin, Ky., through its “Operation Sharing” program. CAP is an interdenominational organization that provides a number of community development, education and crisis intervention programs to Appalachia and beyond. The giveaway is coordinated locally by Missouri State-West Plains’ development office and physical plant.
“The Christian Appalachian Project’s book distribution is always well received by our local libraries and schools,” said Missouri State-West Plains Assistant Director of Development Joe Kammerer. “We are happy to be able to provide this opportunity to the community, and we look forward to continuing this event for years to come.”
This is the 15th year Missouri State-West Plains has joined forces with CAP to distribute books to area districts, and administrators at those districts are very appreciative of the effort.
“We’ve been here about every year, and we love it,” said Norwood School Assistant Librarian Paula Fortner as she perused the boxes of books. “This program gives us more of an assortment of books for our students, and it helps us meet the state’s curriculum standards.”
Dora School Librarian Mary Collins agreed as she, too, glanced through boxes of books. “We added about 500 books to our collection last year,” she said. “It really helps us out budget wise, too. We look forward to it every year.”
Organizers said this year’s shipment included a wide variety of fiction, non-fiction and reference books for elementary-, middle- and high school-aged students, as well as several titles for adult readers. In addition, several of the boxes delivered included VHS tapes, which were snatched up quickly by the library representatives.
Those taking advantage of the giveaway came from as close as West Plains R-7 and the surrounding rural schools to as far as the Logan-Rogersville and Doniphan School Districts. In addition, public libraries in Willow Springs, Mountain View, and Texas and Wright counties participated, as did officials at Brooke Haven Healthcare in West Plains and Whetstone Boys Ranch near Mtn. View.
For more information about CAP and its “Operation Sharing” program, visit the organization’s website, http://www.christianapp.org/. Area schools, public libraries and other non-profits not currently on the notification list for next year’s distribution can call the Missouri State-West Plains development office at 417-255-7240 to be added.