On October 10, 2018, Books4All made its first recurring donation to Sunnyslope Elementary.  I delivered over $800 in school supplies and 100 books to the K-5 school located in the primarily rural community of Hollister, California.

Sunnyslope’s principal, Mr. Rivas, his vice-principal, and librarian Ms. Aguilar all gave me a warm welcome as I loaded boxes of books, writing utensils, art supplies, and other classroom items onto a shopping cart.  As we made our way into the library, I learned that, fortunately, last year’s donated books had gone over well with the students.  “The kids loved your book choices from last year – especially the comics, like Stickman Odyssey, they’re always being checked out!” Ms. Aguilar said.  “The classroom supplies were so nice too – I was able to make goody bags for each teacher.”

This year’s picks seemed to be a hit too.  When Principal Rivas brought some kids into the library from Sunnyslope’s afterschool program, they were clamoring over the boxes.  “Look at this Star Wars cookbook!”  “Woah, a book on paper airplanes!”  I distributed books and supplies among the kids and we all took a picture together, which can be seen on our gallery page.

Though the majority of the event was cheerful, I was greatly saddened to hear of the passing of Cindy Lubke, one of Sunnyslope’s dearly loved teachers, only a week before.  After the students left, Mr. Rivas, Ms. Aguilar and I had a discussion on how best to pay tribute to her.  I decided that Books4All’s next annual donation to Sunnyslope Elementary would be in honor of Ms. Lubke, and every book donated would have a label with her name on it.

Sunnyslope Elementary will continue to receive annual donations from Books4All.  Please consider supporting schools like Sunnyslope, along with their promising students and passionate faculty.