Dunlow , Wayne County , West Virginia

The gym at Dunlow Elementary School in Wayne County serves a lot of purposes at the school. "This is actually a true multipurpose room. We use it for art, music and physical education classes," said principal Chanda Perry.

The gym is also the library. A video from the school shows how chaotic it can get.
"They're distracted and can't think of which book they need to get or what the teacher told them and this group is distracted from what they're currently working on," Perry said.

A group of high school students with the Center for FaithJustice in New Jersey was participating in a summer service project at the school last year when they saw how badly they needed a library. Different volunteers with the organization have been spending weeks in Dunlow doing service projects for years, but this year was a little different. One of the volunteers decided to spearhead a fundraising campaign back home in New Jersey to help the school get that library.

Perry said, "I was ecstatic. Not just for myself but for the students. It's something that we've needed for years."

That volunteer, Mike McDonald, reached out to his New Jersey parish and community.
"It's just been really beautiful to see the way that the community of his parish has gotten behind it as well as individuals who have come across the web site," said Jan Wilcox, director of programs at the Center For FaithJustice.

The donations have been pouring in since the beginning of the school year.

Wilcox said, "It's been so cool to see that thermometer go up and up and to see the project get that much closer to actually happening."

Donations are at about $30,000 of the estimated $35,100 cost to build the library. Perry said she's worked with the board of education to make sure they got all the correct permits and paperwork submitted.

Perry tells us the students have already started reading more, anticipating the new library. Last year, they got 1,000 points in an accelerated reading program the whole school year. About halfway through this year, they already have 1,500 points.

"It helps them to become good, independent readers, and we feel like this also helps the kids academically, because now they want to read more, and they want to read more for pleasure, not just for skill," Perry said.


"I cannot thank Mike McDonald enough. He has been a blessing to me, these students, this staff, this entire school, simply because he's took this project to the next level."

If all goes as planned, McDonald will return with a group in June to help construct the library. Another group connected to FaithJustice is organizing a book drive for the library.

Here is the site to donate or track progress:
http://www.dunlowschoollibrary.com/Home_Page.html

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