By Laura Camper / laura@newnan.com
Local schools and United Bank teamed up once again to raise money for Ferst Readers of Coweta County.
This is the 15th year of the Childhood Literacy Coin Drive in the Coweta County School System schools. The schools raised a total of $20,898 for Ferst Readers of Coweta County this year through donations and fundraisers.
At Brooks Elementary, which brought in the biggest donation of all the Coweta County elementary schools, the students participated in pajama days to raise money. The students could donate a couple of dollars and wear pajamas to school that day. The school had three pajama days this year, said Principal Jillian Andrew. The school raised more than $3,113.
Madras Middle School had the Eagle Mingle for Literacy, said Principal Lorraine Johnson. The students paid admission to participate in the after-school activity, Johnson said. Madras raised $2,200 for Ferst, the most raised in any of the Coweta County middle schools.
At Newnan High School, teachers and administrators named their favorite childhood books and then students paid $1 to try to match the book to the person. There were prizes to win, but it was just fun, said Nikki Henderson, coordinator of the fundraiser. The high school raised $1,820, the most of the high schools in the school system.
United Bank counts the coins, and the bank awards the top three fundraising schools with a $100 donation each, said Jacki Parker, vice president of the bank. The fundraiser is a great way to involve children in helping others while reinforcing the benefits of reading, she said.
“This is an awesome program,” Parker said. “Some of the schools bring in children to help them empty the coins in the coin machine, and they are so excited that they raised all this money for children’s books.”
Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy mails books along with literacy activities related to that book each month to local children from birth to age 5. Currently the group is serving 1,950 children but would like to serve more, said Nelda Boren, one of the Ferst Foundation Board members.
“We try to register them at birth through the hospital, or anywhere else we can,” Boren said. “Any child can register, but we try to focus on, especially, Head Start and areas where we don’t think children have sufficient reading material.”
The childhood literacy program began in Coweta County in 2004. It was first affiliated with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and later became part of Ferst Readers, which is based in Madison, Georgia, Boren said.
It costs roughly $36 a year for each child to receive their monthly books. Ferst Readers of Coweta County relies on fundraisers and donations to fund the program.
According to Ferst, “The number of age-appropriate books in the home can be a stronger predictor of literacy and academic success than family income.”
But 61 percent of low-income homes have no books suitable for children at all, the Ferst website states.
“We’ve had a lot of success stories,” Boren said. “We get so many parents that tell us how their children want to read that book when it comes in — it comes in the mail and they’re going to make somebody in that house read it (to them).”
United Bank recognized Brooks Elementary, Madras Middle and Newnan High schools with $100 each for raising the most coins for this year’s Childhood Literacy Coin Drive. The Coweta County schools collectively raised more than $20,898. Pictured left to right: Charlie Attenborough, customer service representative at United Bank; Nelda Boren, Ferst Foundation board member; Jacki Parker, vice president of United Bank; Jillian Andrew, principal of Brooks Elementary School; Elizabeth Terrell, teacher at Brooks Elementary School; Nikki Henderson, coordinator for Ferst fundraiser at Newnan High School; and Lorraine Johnson, principal at Madras Middle School.
