The Port Huron, Michigan campus of Ross Medical Education Center has once again participated in a book drive for a favorite organization, Better World Books. The drive took place during the month of June and had students, staff, and faculty digging out and bringing in copies of textbooks, fiction, non-fiction, and children’s books. Medical Assistant program student Courtney Soule even brought in books that were destined for her aunt’s garage sale.
Better World Books donates, repurposes, and recycles books in order to support literacy projects around the world. Books are utilized in various ways; some are donated to parts of the United States and the world where they are badly needed while others are sold to raise funds for student organizations and global literacy initiatives. In addition, textbooks are made available to college students at affordable prices. Also, books that have outlived their usefulness are recycled so they don’t end up in landfills.
Better World Books allows the donor to choose from several organizations to determine who will be the recipient of the funds raised from their donations. The Port Huron campus chose to have funds go to the National Center for Families Learning. This organization uses literacy based service learning strategies at the family level. Service learning is a teaching method normally used in classroom settings, and designed to involve the students in meaningful service to their communities. This is done by involving the students in organizations such as neighborhood associations, community events, cultural awareness programs, fairs, festivals, neighborhood clean-up/beautification projects, etc.
The National Center for Families Learning feels that providing literacy-based service learning opportunities to families, particularly at-risk families, helps them become involved in local institutions. Through the efforts of this organization, these families have a voice in their community, gain experience in working with community members, become self-sufficient, expand their social networks, build literacy, and expand work-based skills. This in turn leads to parents and caregivers being more comfortable advocating for their families and communities.
Better World Books makes it very easy to hold a book drive or make individual donations, and so often people have books that they don’t know what to do with. The Port Huron campus collected and donated 157 books to this special cause. For more information about Better World Books and how you can get involved, visit their website at www.betterworldbooks.com or the Better World Books Facebook page.