We hit our Book Credits goal!

MacArthur Elementary in New York was hit by the flood in September 2011

Wednesday September 7^th, 2011 was the first day of school for excited new and current students at MacArthur Elementary school in Broome County. Within hours, a natural disaster occurred in Binghamton, NY and the surrounding areas. Several hundred people lost their homes and places of employment. MacArthur school had 4 ½ feet of water inside the school which has resulted in the school being contaminated, with possibly several years of displacement for the students and staff. The community has opened its arms to provide alternate sites for the students to attend. Unfortunately approximately 600 students are now separated into three different schools within the city.   

Besides the building being damaged, just about everything had to be disposed of due to the contamination. This includes all text books, library books, workbooks, and student records. This alone is a sufficient loss not to mention the expense and loss of the entire computer and smart board systems.

The school is a very close knit community of students and staff. The teachers have had to scrape together what they could from other schools and use their own money to make an environment that would be warm and inviting, as well conducive to learning. After only 12 days of getting the new schools ready for the students, school for MacArthur students finally resumed on September 19^th at their “temporary locations”.

It will take years before the school building and contents are replaced. Not to mention the enormous cost of rebuilding. Donations of new books from the Paperback Swap community would help with the rebuilding process for both the school library as well as the classroom libraries for the students to enjoy.

Please strongly consider helping MacArthur recover and begin to rebuild the students' love for reading!

Thank you!

Maria McIver, Principal

Andrea Barnett, teacher