The Daily News Of The Virgin Islands

Jaycees Donate Books to Library

The Jaycettes of St. Thomas turned over to the St. Thomas Public Library over 300 books collected in the Children's Book Drive.

Mrs. Alice Simpson and Mrs. Josephine Stein, co-chairmen of the Drive, reported that in addition to the books, the sum of $290 has been collected from interested persons in the community, and the Library is now compiling a list of books most needed and to be ordered for the Children's Reading Room.

The campaign which was sparked by several mothers who observed the lack of sufficient reading material for the younger children, received the support of the Commissioner of Education and the entire Library Staff.

Members of the Future Homemakers of America, a high school organization, aided in the book collection. Contributions of many good volumes were gratefully received and put on the shelves promptly. Copies of National Geographic were also appreciated.

Mrs. Banfield, President of the Jaycettes, said that this Drive was an attempt to do two things—first, to supplement the reading material for the younger children on the Ground Floor Reading Room of the library, and, second, to awaken interest of the community to the needs of the St. Thomas Public Library and the school libraries.

"We did not want to bombard the community with another fund-raising campaign," she said, or we could have increased the amount of money raised. We hope that enough people were made aware of the need for books in our libraries, so that they will continue to support the public libraries. From some of the letters accompanying the donations, we are sure that many more persons will do this."

The Jaycettes plan to make their Book Drive—with its slogan "If you can't give a book, give a buck", an annual project.