- March 14, 2025
Every child needs a library of their own and this past week, the Flagler/Palm Coast Kiwanis Club wanted to help make that happen. The club, through their Library of My Own project, distributed about $4,000 worth of books to third-grade students attending the Flagler School District’s Summer Reading Camp.
Working in conjunction with Rita Jones, summer reading camp coordinator, appropriate books were purchased and brought to Wadsworth Elementary, the site for this year’s reading camp. The books were unboxed and spread out in a display from which the students were able to pick and choose. Each teacher was invited to bring her class to the mini book fair, where the students were given a book bag and told they could select five books which they could take home and keep.
The project was initiated in 2003 with a $5,000 Flagler/Palm Coast Kiwanis Foundation Start Up Grant to the school district. It was so successful that Kiwanis has continued to fund the program each year as an ongoing project. To date, the club has donated more than $21,000 for its Library of My Own project. These funds are magnified by taking advantage of summer discount rates offered by the book vendors as they begin redoing their inventories for the next school season.
Over the past two years, the Flagler Volunteer Services has provided book bags for the students and this year Ocean Publishing of Flagler Beach made a direct donation of approximately $1,200 worth of new books which will be split with the Flagler Volunteer Services I Can Read program. The Flagler/Palm Coast Kiwanis Club focuses on supporting the youth of Flagler County and the Flagler County Schools. For additional information, call 439-3251.
