Discarded texts put to good use

By Sue Nowicki
snowicki@modbee.com

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What can one person do?

If it's up to Audrey Pannier, the answer could be to help educate an entire country.

Audrey, a retired school speech therapist from Turlock, has traveled to Ghana four times with a church group. While there, she visited village schools and saw the dearth of books.

"Literacy is very much valued there," she said. "They will read anything they can get."

Back in this country, she said, teachers and school districts often discard textbooks when new editions come out. At the end of every school year, she said it's common on school campuses to see recycling bins full of books no longer needed.

So last year, she collected 40 boxes worth of books and school supplies and shipped them to a church in Ghana. Teachers in the church took what they wanted and the rest were sent out to villages in vans used as mobile libraries.

Audrey hopes to do more this year and asks that anyone with books to donate call her. She is looking for anything from textbooks and teacher's manuals on topics such as math, science and social studies to children's books and paperbacks to supplies such as rulers, pencils, chalk, etc.

She said donating the books is a win-win proposition.

"Otherwise, they would end up in landfills," she said. "It makes me feel good to be helping our environment as well as helping people in Ghana."

Friends and fellow teachers helped her last year, she said, but it's basically a one-woman program. She paid the $1,300 it cost to ship the books last year.

"It's my charitable work," Audrey said. "If we're going to be talking about giving back, this is my way of doing it."

To donate books or other supplies, call her at 632-8363.

Traci Jennings, president of the Humane Society of Stanislaus County, said the Senior Pet Food Project takes donated pet food and distributes it to needy, pet-owning seniors.

The project's numbers show the impact it is making: In the first quarter of the year, it donated 3,187 bags of cat food, 1,997 bags of food for large dogs and 1,918 bags of food for small dogs, for a total of 7,102 bags. Traci said that translates into daily meals for 35.4 cats, 22.2 large dogs and 21.3 small dogs.

"It is rather amazing when you consider this only counts the Senior Pet Food program and doesn't include the other cat/dog food bags we have given to other rescue organizations and to the Gospel Mission for pets of homeless people," she said.

Joan McCullough of Ceres said she and her husband, Bob, were celebrating their 54th wedding anniversary at Applebee's in Turlock in March. Her sister and brother-in-law, visiting from Washington state, were celebrating their 59th anniversary.

The brother-in-law struck up a conversation with a young Latino couple and their child sitting nearby. That couple left while the anniversary couples were still eating.

"When the waitress came with our bill, she informed us that the young couple had already taken care of it," Joan said. "We were shocked, but pleasantly surprised by this gesture. We didn't even have the opportunity to thank them.

"We hope they read this and know how much their random act of kindness touched us."

Do you have a story about someone who has helped others or is a terrific role model? Send a brief item to Sue Nowicki at P.O. Box 5256, Modesto 95352 or e-mail snowicki@modbee.com.