By Cheryl Lasseter
cheryl@wlbt.net
It's a bookworm's dream: piles and piles of volumes, fiction and non-fiction, selections for children of any age.
They're part of a new library for students at Mississippi Children's Home Services' "CARES" School, which serves about 140 children with emotional disturbances.
"We had an opportunity to tour the school and saw such a need for a library," says Abby Munton. She's an editor with JBHM Education Group, a consulting group that adopted the school. "It's been a snowball effect since then," she says.
Volunteers from the Jackson Public Library System are helping JBHM staff and school staff sort through the books. Almost 1,000 books have been donated.
The effort is pleasing to Principal Tracy Anderson, who has been working at the school for only one month. "(A library) was here, but it was everywhere. It was a mess. Books everywhere," she says. "The children, that's the one thing they've been asking for since I've been here is a place they can go, grab books, read. I have a library at home so I've been bringing books temporarily, just to serve, fill in."
Volunteers on Saturday also brightened the scenery by applying fresh coats of paint and hanging homemade art in the classrooms. The goal is to make school more worthwhile, and more fun. "Help them see outside their current circumstances, dream big, just help them have a positive influence," Munton says.
84 of the students at the "CARES" School live on campus.
