Making the World a Better Place
By James S. Backer
President
& Member of Board of Directors
Are we making the world a better place? Perhaps the SCV Education Foundation needs to ask ourselves that question occasionally. Perhaps you need to ask yourself that question, too.
A recent talk by Ernie Johnson, well-known in the sports world as the host of TNT’s Inside the NBA, addressed this challenge directly when Alabama head football coach Nick Saban asked him to speak to his team prior to the 2021 season. He said:
“There’s value in everybody.
When you step away from your agenda and notice that there are moments that can make somebody’s life better, that’s all I try to teach me and teach my kids. When you wake up in the morning and say, ‘How am I going to make somebody else’s life better today?’
There’s a team much bigger than this. There’s a team that is trying to make somebody’s day better. That’s all of us.”
At our Foundation, we want to make days better for Santa Clarita Valley public educators, students, and administrators. Our team of Board members and volunteers want to provide opportunities, encouragement, and support in a variety of ways.
Since reading is a foundational element to a student’s ability to learn we have many programs dedicated to literacy. One of our newest programs, Page Turners, provides high-risk 7th and 8th graders with two books of their own choosing to take home and to start or add to their own personal library. We have learned that many kids have under 10 books in their family home, and in fact, many have zero. Why is that important? Monica Ludlow, Librarian at Placerita Junior High recently shared its importance at our recent Board meeting:
Students “had little access to Barnes & Noble, public libraries, or school libraries during COVID” and therefore were extremely happy to be “gifted” with our books.
One student “hugged their books” when she learned she got to keep them.
Another student approached her a week after receiving his books. He was very excited to share that he loved the book so much and spent each night reading in his dad’s truck because there are lots of people living in his house and it’s the only place that’s “quiet”.
Monica asked us “to keep considering these students. SCV thinks all kids have it easy, but they don’t. Many families don’t have the financial resources to buy books and sometimes it takes just one book - the right book - to make the difference in whether a child will become a life-long reader”.
We like to share great stories because we know kids and educators need our help to continue to improve our public education system and to reach all students. For further information about the Foundation, please check our website at https://www.scveducationfoundation.org and please consider donating to help make the world a better place.
