Jun 19, 2008 2:46 pm US/Pacific
A New Chapter of Learning for Young Students
Jefferson Award Winner: Judy Zollman
Barbara Rodgers
OAKLAND (CBS 5) ―
Enthusiastic students crowd into the library at Oakland's Santa Fe School, talking excitedly.
"I was the third highest," 8-year-old Jasmine Miller says proudly. She's the third highest reader in her class.
It's Judy Zollman and her dedicated volunteers who have made a love of books like Jasmine's possible through their "People of the Book" giveaway.
"People of the Book got started because we have an incredible, wonderful rabbi at Temple Sinai," Judy explains. "Rabbi Chester had been in a congregation in Stockton that had a literacy program in the synagogue and he came to me because he knew I was working in literacy at the time."
That was ten years ago. Judy took the challenge and ran with it, soon finding a neighborhood school in need and recruiting the volunteers, money, and materials necessary to turn a spare room filled with cast-offs into a colorful library.
"I think that's the beauty of this project -- is that everybody who comes to it volunteers," says Judy. "(It's) all donations, all volunteer time, a huge commitment from the temple community."
Though People of the Book started out strictly as a literacy program, over the ten years it has evolved into more than that, meeting all kinds of community needs from food to fun.
Judy says, "Every year, more and more things happen and we just try to be flexible and say, 'Ok, let's try to make this fit. If the school needs it, let's see how we can get it to happen.' (We gather) art supplies, school supplies, sports equipment. We also do food drives at the holidays."
The literacy, tutoring, and book giveaway programs have expanded, too, from the school where they first started to more than five Oakland schools today.
"We've collected and donated and/or put on library shelves eighty thousand books since the beginning of the project," Judy says.
The book giveaways are popular with the kids.
"I really like them because i get to take more books, collect more books than I have at home," says 9-year-old reader Shannae Floyd. "I get to read interesting books."
Nine-year-old reader Justin Bingham adds, "Sometimes I read books about dinosaurs and cartoons."
For giving thousands of children books they can read and treasure, and for stimulating young minds, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Judy Zollman.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
