Books make way to reservation's center
On a weekend in early June, Elgin residents Sherry May and Dawn Farris drove to the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota to donate books and educational materials to their Juvenile Detention Center, as part of their Rosebud Reservation Detention Center Project.
The Wanbli Wiconi Tipi-Juvenile Detention Center is operated by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe on the Rosebud Native American Reservation in South Dakota.
Many contributors generously donated more than 6,000 books, tapes, and educational materials to its juvenile program for children, ages 13 to 17.
The Wanbli Wiconi Tipi-Juvenile Detention Center provides a safe and secure environment for male and female adjudicated youth of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. They are now better equipped to accomplish this with the donated books and educational materials provided them by the contributors. A large portion of the books donated to the center went to fill the shelves in their newly created library. Before and after pictures of the center's library can be seen at GoWithBooks.com.
The gift of giving is a part of Lakota tradition. Thank you all for participating in this tradition by opening up your hearts and contributing to this worthy book drive.
Books and educational materials were donated by Harvey Amen, president of Resources Plus in Sugar Grove, a supplier of educational books and materials; Friends of the Dundee Township Public Library; Jack Weiss, Judy Olsen, Janet Poyner, Lisa Martin, Connie Hopkins and Scott Farris, all of Elgin; Linda Stelle of Cary; Virginia Swanson and the Grace Lutheran Church of Lily Lake; Lana Kinsixzn of Cherry Valley; Pat and Jack Hollis; John Warnock; Karen Gottschalk and the Yorkville Intermediate School; Dick and Dee Atkinson; Cheryl LaMaster and the St. Charles North High School; Pat Marcincich, Elburn; Carol Hannig, Carpentersville; Chris Freise, East Dundee; Sonja Wright and the Elgin U.S. Post Office; Donna Decker, Homewood; Kathy Glenn, Matteson; Maria Alelinski, Chicago Heights; and Gail Strawbridge; Kathy Safranek; and Ron and Lou Ann Hayes of Rolling Meadows.
Also, Sgt. Ed Perez, Batavia Police Department for his monetary donation; Tim and Tom Flynn, owners of Continental Datalabel Inc. in Elgin, for the free packing boxes and tape; Pam Brekke of St. Charles for her time in helping count and pack books; Halina Kopec of St. Charles for her time; the Juvenile Center for providing two free rooms at the Quality Inn in Mission, S.D.; Josh Jayne, rental branch manager, Enterprise Car Rental in South Elgin, for a free rental upgrade and a free extra day rental; and Larry Magee, president of BFS Retail and Commercial Operations, LLC, for donating all the shipping costs to truck the thousands of books and materials up to the center.
A very special thank you to Dawn Farris of Elgin for donating books and being instrumental in acquiring and coordinating the shipping of the books and materials with her employer, BFS Retail Commercial Operations, LLC, plus her countless hours of time to count and repack materials and books into boxes for shipping, driving and sharing the cost of driving to the reservation. As well as her encouragement to start GoWithBooks, a nonprofit company dedicated to helping bring together those who have books to donate with those who need books.