T-R FILE PHOTO
With the creation of ebooks and audio books, many readers are now drifting toward reading online materials rather than heavy print books.

The desire to give back to Marshalltown caused a class of graduates to raise money for the city and for the school district.

The Marshalltown High School class of 1989 raised enough money to buy around 700 books for kindergarten and first grade classes, and $1,000 for the Coliseum. At 1 p.m. on Tuesday, members of the class will deliver books to the Marshalltown School District elementary schools, starting with Hoglan Elementary.

One of the graduates is Amy Pollard, kindergarten teacher at Hoglan Elementary.

“Being a teacher in the schools, I knew that many teachers had done the Scholastic Books for kids in the past, so I suggested those to the reunion planning committee,” she said. “They all thought that was a great idea. The Coliseum was an easy idea because of the devastation that occurred to it during the tornado.”

The class only raised money during their September reunion — $2,000 for books in addition to the money for the Coliseum.

Marshalltown School District Communications Director Adam Sodders said he was not aware of such a large donation of books ever being provided to the district.

Pollard bought the books from Scholastic that only cost $1, so she got the largest amount of books. Pollard took the time to go through and choose the titles that were appropriate for the reading levels and were still of interest to the students. She also purchased book packs.

Unfortunately, there was only enough money to provide books for two grades, and Pollard said research shows kids need to foster a love for reading at an early age.

“There are a lot of teachers in the district that do this in their own classrooms already, too,” she said. “They ask friends and family members to donate $9 to sponsor one kid for the entire year. When you think about spending $9 to give a child a book each month, that isn’t very much money to spend. In the future, I would like to be able to give books to every kid in Marshalltown each month.”

Sodders said teachers in Marshalltown, and in numerous other school districts, find themselves in positions where they have to supplement classroom supplies with money from their own pockets. He is hoping the book donation will help provide some relief for those teachers.

“It is one less thing teachers will have to keep in mind,” Sodders said. “I do think this will benefit the teachers and the students.”

Last year, $5,000 was raised for Hoglan Elementary to provide each kid in school with a monthly book.

“Sadly, we have children in Marshalltown that do not have their own books in their homes,” Pollard said. “Last year when I handed out the first set of books to my students I had children say to me, ‘This is for me? Can I keep it?’ I had kids tell me that it was the first book they ever got to keep.”

For the price of two cups of coffee, the kindergarten teacher said people could help instill a love of reading in a child, boost academic achievement scores and increase vocabulary and language development.

“I cannot tell you the feeling you get when you see the faces of the children when they get the new books,” Pollard said. “They are so appreciative and excited.”

Pollard said if people are interested in adding to the book fund, checks can be made out to SCHOLASTIC BOOKS to Amy Pollard, Hoglan Elementary School, 2306 S. Third Ave., Marshalltown, 50158.

Any additional donations will help increase the number of grade levels that can receive books.