In efforts to build a sustainable partnership between the Crossnore Community for Children, and to welcome students to Anderson Academy, Crossnore’s new Public Charter School opening this fall, ZSR is launching the Welcome! Back to School (WBTS) campaign from Tuesday, March 18 through Tuesday, April 29.
Why Crossnore?
For over 100 years, Crossnore Communities for Children have served children at risk of entering the child welfare system, those already in the system, and those who are aging out of the system. Along with residential care for children in the foster care system, they provide a slew of other tangentially supportive services.
As Crossnore Community Charter School – Anderson Academy – prepares for its grand opening in August, it expects 100 K-4 students and will take a holistic approach to its trauma-informed curriculum. Anderson will be inherently different as it will be designed to provide a safe and dependable environment for students living in foster care and / or having experienced abuse or other adversities.
Furthermore, Anderson will not have a formal media center in its first years of operation, therefore, the WBTS campaign is sure to be an impactful component to its launch.
Book Drive & Back to School Party
The WBTS campaign consists of two primary efforts:
- Establishing classroom libraries through grant funding & ZSR employee book drive
- Throwing a WBTS party for students and teachers
The ZSR Innovation Grant and the Center for Literacy Education’s Diverse Books Grant will provide up to 250 books during this effort. Additionally, the hope is for the simultaneous ZSR Book Drive to provide 250 more books for Anderson Academy classroom libraries. This combined effort can help establish nearly 50% of the recommended amount of books at Anderson before their first day of classes according to the International Literacy Association’s Position Statement on providing books for classroom and school libraries.
The WBTS Party at Anderson Academy will be an opportunity to connect students with teachers in an informal and celebratory format. The ZSR Innovation Grant is also providing a new backpack for each student, backpack decorations, snacks, and games during the event. More to come on the date and time of the WBTS Party.
How you can help
You can contribute to the ZSR Book Drive supporting Anderson Academy in several ways:
- Donate gently-used books (drop off at the ZSR Circulation Desk)
- Purchase new books (find guidance & links to local book sellers discount pages on project site)
- Donate cash (see instructions on project site)
Visit the Welcome! Back to School Campaign site for instructions on all forms of donations including sample book lists for guidance on age- and culturally-appropriate titles for Anderson students, our local bookseller discounted purchasing links, and where and how to donate cash. This is a great place to learn more about Crossnore, see campaign progress, and discover how many ZSR, WFU, and Crossnore partners are making this project possible!
Please reach out to Colleen Foy (foyc@wfu.edu) with questions, comments, and suggestions regarding this campaign.
6 Comments on ‘ZSR Partnering with Crossnore’s Anderson Academy’
Fantastic project! Where could we bring donated books?
What an amazing project! Thanks for sharing, Colleen, and thanks for all your excellent work to make this happen!
So happy to see this initiative launch! Thank you for all your hard work, Colleen.
This is really great!
Congratulations for this initiative supporting Crossnore.
Fantastic!! All the best with this important effort!
Way to go ZSR!