Page Turners book drive fills Free Little Libraries
by DJ Kauffman Correspondent · April 25th, 2019


Off-site learning is growing at Iowa Big, and community involvement is at the heart of student projects.

This community-based educational program offers Linn-Mar, Cedar Rapids and Prairie High School students the opportunity to receive hands-on experience through community projects at two area locations, 600 Boyson Rd. N.E. and 415 12th Ave. S.E., both in Cedar Rapids.

The Alburnett School District is coming on next year, said Iowa Big teacher Becky Herman, who along with her student team and special community partners met with the Times last week in a conference room at the Boyson Rd site.

Currently, all three schools and a grant fund the Iowa Big program, Herman said.

According to Linn-Mar student Zachary Mayer, Iowa Big is different than regular school because it offers interesting challenges outside of the classroom.

"You are always trying something new; doing something out of your comfort zone. You don't know how cool and different it is, until you actually try it.," he said.

Linn-Mar student Henry Morray agrees: "At school you are doing things in the classroom; at Iowa Big you are doing things out of the classroom ... not just for yourself, but for others."

Also, "at Iowa Big, you realize you can change things," said Washington High School student and Iowa Big recruiter AJ Papakee.

Papakee explained how there is a stigma about off-site high school campus learning, so she tells students about the awesome benefits the program has to offer. Also, a lot of teachers have the wrong message about Iowa Big as some think students just want to get out of class or use it as a way to skip class, she said.

According to Herman, who currently oversees the book drive project, students at Iowa Big feel connected to their community and find purpose in student-led, student-choice projects.

At the Boyson site, teams of two or more students, made up from about 70 total students, work on various projects throughout the school year in the packed-out area upstairs at the Kerndt Brothers Bank.

Iowa Big on Boyson will soon be moving to a larger facility closer to the Lindale Mall, as the site's lease is up and the program has increased in size since it first began six years ago.

The Iowa Big program is divided into half-day sessions, where the students travel to and from their respective schools, and transportation is provided for those who need it. Anyone from high school can be involved in Iowa Big; they just need to sign up by contacting their guidance counselors, Herman said.

One successful project out of many began last year at the Boyson location. It is a community Page Turners book drive where project lead Papakee (2nd year), Morray (2nd year) and Mayer (1st year) collect books for under-priviledged kids, ages birth to 18.

"When you open a book, it is like ideas are coming to you," said Morray, whose favorite place at school is in the library.

The idea for a book drive was pitched to Iowa Big students last year by Amanda Zhorne, who worked at Barnes & Nobel at the time. Zhorne is now on the Iowa Big staff and continues to be a liaison between both entities.

Zhorne said while there are a lot of great things happening with literacy in this community, there are still youth without books in their homes. For example, foster care kids do not have many possessions as they are moved around.

Once the book drive team of students was organized, they began researching non-profits that help under-priviledged children. They then created a list of those interested in receiving books according to various age groups.

Last year, Iowa Big donated about 4,000 books to the Families Helping Families organization that met at Hawkeye Downs for a large foster care kids event where they could pick out two Iowa Big collected books.

"They were so happy," Papakee said with a smile.

Morray added: "It was really cool. We got to kind of see our work... There was a bunch of kids and the books were around the tree."

The reason Iowa Big missed the Families Helping Families event this year was because their focus has changed from holiday seasons only to a year-round vision.

"Right now we are giving books to Young Parents Network, Four Oaks and others," Papakee said.

According to Papakee, Iowa Big students collected about 6,500 new and good-conditioned used books last year, and some of the funds received were saved to start this year's project.

Additionally, Mayer said as partners with Barnes and Nobel they receive a percentage of sales when bookstore customers mentioned the Iowa Big Page Turners book drive project. They then use the money to buy new books from Barnes and Nobel.

An Iowa Big press release states, "This year we renamed our project into Page Turners, our goals remain the same yet they've also evolved. In addition to the book drive, we have goals of building a Little Free Library this year as well as being apart of a book club."

For the Iowa Big Page Turners project, the students recently bought a Little Free Library to build, paint and distribute at the end of the school year. They will also stock it with collected books, Papakee said.

Herman said the Little Free Library looks like a big bird house on a pole placed outdoors on private or public property.

Nia Purchase is a Linn-Mar student who also attends Iowa Big this year. She is now working on the Consent Project. Nia's father, Craig Purchase of Marion, is the pastor of Greater Works Church located at 1202 10th Street N..E, in Cedar Rapids, near Metro High School.

Pastor Purchase is planning to house a Greater Life Center for the community, open Monday through Friday; therefore, teaming up with Iowa Big Book Page Turners will help kids in the community in two ways.

In addition, Pastor Purchase said the youth center, designed similar to an after school program for kids in K-12, will offer an indoor library where kids can check books out, read or be read to.

The church will also make space available on the church grounds for the Little Free Library built and designed by the Page Turners team, who has raised a ton of books, so they can continue to stock both the indoor and outdoor libraries, Herman said.

Pastor Purchase believes the book projects will impact the community by strengthening families. "The stronger the family, the stronger the community. It starts at home... building the person's character is shaped by everything they take in," he said.

Iowa Big shirts and totes fundraising merchandise is available at One Mission through May. For more information on donating books/money to Page Turners, visit iowabig.org.

Besides the Page Turners book drive, Morray, Papakee and Mayer also work on various other projects such as Big Bite Nutrition, Green Bandana Project, Story Tellers and Hope Walk.