The Mesquite Rotary Club presented a donation of $2,500 to the Mesquite Association of Retired School Employees book project at their meeting on October 1stt.
. In accepting the check from Rotary president John Taylor, MARSE president Elaine Whitlock expressed her thanks for Rotary’s financial support and volunteer assistance, and noted that the funds would greatly support the project’s goal of providing a book of their own to each Mesquite ISD first grader. MARSE book project chair Susan Cumby added her thanks for the funds, and for the volunteer assistance that Rotary members have provided for the project. She also discussed goals for expanding the project, and provided a detailed look at the process involved in ordering, sorting, and delivering the books to each school.
The MARSE book project has been an ongoing commitment since 1999. Each year they have been able to provide an increasing number of MISD first grade students with their own "take home" book. The books are new ones, and they are specially selected to coordinate with the children’s reading curriculum in their schools. The project is designed to promote the love of reading, the development of students’ personal book collections, and to assist in the development of the students’ reading skills. The Mesquite Rotary Club’s $2,500 donation, coupled with funds donated by MARSE members, will allow the project to provide books to all of the first graders at each Mesquite ISD elementary school. For more information on the Mesquite Association of Retired School Employees, visit their website at localunits.org/mesquite.