NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | August 19, 2016 | PAGE 17
BUILDING COMMUNITY
Oregon School Employee Association helps deliver first books
Union members get 80,000 books
into the hands of low-income kids
in Beaverton, Sweet Home and
Woodburn.
Giving a child a book is like
planting a seed. Just as a seed
grows into something much
larger, a book can cultivate a
lifelong passion for reading and
put a child on the path to life-
long success.
Yet far too many Oregon
schoolchildren don’t have ade-
quate access to books. Oregon
School Employees Association
(OSEA) members in various
school districts across the state
are taking action by teaming up
with First Book, a national non-
profit organization that distrib-
utes new books to children who
need them most. Once a com-
munity is able to register 2,000
people, First Book will send a
truckload of 40,000 books.
Since originally partnering
with First Book in 2012, OSEA
members have been able to get
roughly 150,000 free, new
books into the hands of low-in-
come children. Of that total,
more than 80,000 books were
delivered this year to children in
Sweet Home, Beaverton, and
Woodburn. And there’s more to
come. OSEA members in
Southern Oregon are working
on two more First Book regis-
tration drives and hope to de-
liver an additional 80,000 books
to kids in their communities
later this year.
ABOVE: In the Sweet Home High
School gym, about 200 volun-
teers take a break from sorting
40,000 books.
LEFT: OSEA Central Chapter
President Denise Chase, (fourth
from right), along with fellow
chapter members, helped sort
books at French Prairie Middle
School in Woodburn.
We Honor All The Hard Working
Men and Women on Labor Day
Iron Workers Local 14, Spokane
Iron Workers Local 506, Seattle
Iron Workers Local 29, Portland
Iron Workers Local 516, Portland
Iron Workers Local 86, Seattle
Iron Workers Local 751, Anchorage