Rotary donates books and funds to Long Neck Elementary

When representatives from the youth committee of Long Neck Sunrise Rotary Club met with Long Neck Elementary School Principal Clara Conn to discuss how the club might best support the school, challenges were obvious. Book fairs, reading clubs, workshops were all out of the question during a pandemic.

When Conn mentioned the idea for activity bags for students not able to get outside and play, club members saw an opportunity to make a difference. The club presented a $1,500 donation Jan. 13 to support the acquisition of supplies to be used in the activity bags.

Conn said each teacher was allocated $250 to order items to be assembled into activity bags for their students. Items ordered included Legos, play dough, small travel games and cards. 

In addition to the cash donation for activity bags, the club is donating 1,426 books for use during I Love to Read Week in early March. Each student will receive two new books. At the end of the school year, each kindergartner also will receive a book titled “The Night Before First Grade.”

Over the past few years, Long Neck Sunrise Rotary Club has been supporting the school’s annual spring book fair with mostly new books obtained at cost through Browseabout Books in Rehoboth, and some gently used books collected from various sources.

“The Long Neck Sunrise Rotary Club works to support the youth in the greater Long Neck Community in every way we can,” said Apryl Parcher, youth committee chair. “Working with Long Neck Elementary offers us many challenging ways to meet this mission.”

“We are so fortunate to have Long Neck Sunrise Rotary Club support us to offer the student activities and items they might not have access to otherwise,” said Conn.