Race2Read collects over 2,800 books
Centerville Track and Field athletes want to give a huge “Thank you!” to all the parents, grandparents, teachers, boys and girls who donated books for the Race2 Read project this spring.
Like many successful ventures, the Race2Read (sponsored by CHS Track Teams) started as an idea tossed around by friends. Following the success of the Volley for the Cure campaign by the CHS Volleyball Team, head CHS track coach, Matt Somerlot and head Wayne High School track coach, Mike Fernandez, wondered if there was a worthwhile charitable activity that their track teams could sponsor to show their community spirit. From those initial discussions, the idea of collecting books for patients at Children’s Medical Center floated to the top. Enlisting the help of the Centerville IMC Directors for promotional purposes, Coach Somerlot outlined his idea for this friendly competition with Wayne High School. Each district would collect new or gently used books and through reading, promote their sport and their dual meet, the Warrior-Elk Challenge. Dual track meets are not very common anymore, but these two teams wanted to give their communities a meet to spotlight their fine athletes as well as the need for books for CMC patients.
In Centerville, members of the boy’s track team visited IMC classes at both Primary Village North and Primary Village South to read to -- and with -- the young learners. They also talked about their sport and invited students to come to the track meet on May 6th, where admission was a book donation. Each IMC served as a collection point for donations. The modest goal for this first time endeavor was to collect between 500 and 1,000 books. There must have been a lot of people doing their bookshelf spring cleaning, because when all was said and done, Throws Coach Jim Findlay delivered 2,862 books to Children’s Medical Center. CMC Giving Associate, Linda von Mohr, was thrilled with the generous donation. Physicians at CMC write prescriptions for parents to read to their child. The child gets to select a book from the Half Pint Library to take home with them. The goal of course, is to promote a love of reading and provide some escape time from the reality of disease or injury.
With this level of success, the Elks are sure to repeat the effort next spring when the Warrior-Elk Challenge will be at Wayne High School and the Elks will try to take the trophy-flag away from Wayne High School.