Fairfax Students Get Focused

This year the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), Fairfax Education Association (FEA) and the Fairfax Host Lions joined forces to Get Focused on Reading, a campaign designed for students to help promote literacy throughout the world.

Fairfax, VA, March 04, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax Education Association, and the Fairfax Host Lions Club Join in Celebration of Read Across America

Today schools across the country will participate in the National Education Association’s Read Across America, a program designed to get students interested in reading. The day usually entails reading Dr. Seuss books in celebration of the beloved author’s birthday.

This year the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), Fairfax Education Association (FEA) and the Fairfax Host Lions joined forces to Get Focused on Reading, a campaign designed for students to help promote literacy throughout the world by collecting and recycling used eyeglasses. Fliers were sent out asking parents to look through dresser drawers and closets for used eyeglasses to donate to the Lions Recycle for Sight Program.

Getting the students excited to help the Lions was easy according to librarian and VP of the Fairfax Education Association, Kimberly Adams. “Here, at Mosby Woods Elementary, students even performed a skit for the morning news report. It’s exciting to have our students and schools participate in this unique recycling program in conjunction with the Lions Clubs,” noted Adams. “This program has allowed for younger students to participate in a civic cause and will teach them that even little things like collecting eyeglasses can have a local and global impact,” Adams furthered.

Thirty-six participating Fairfax schools sent students home with information and collection envelopes to help the Fairfax Host Lions Club collect used prescription eyeglasses and both prescription and non-prescription sunglasses over the next two weeks.

Lions District Governor Dennis Brining and wife Linda showed their appreciation to the students by donning red and white striped hats and volunteering their day to reading Dr. Seuss books to the students at Mosby Wood Elementary.

“We had as much laughs as the students when we came in to the library wearing our Cat in the Hat giant hats,” commented Lions District Governor Dennis Brining. “But the mission is so much more, encouraging students to participate in eyeglasses recycling teaches them important lessons in being good citizens and good stewards.”

To donate used glasses, community members and participating students are asked to place them in the specially marked Lions Recycle for Sight collection boxes located at your school library for the first two weeks in March.

The donated glasses collected by the students will go to the Falls Church, VA., Regional Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center to be processed and distributed.

NEA's Read Across America Day, NEA's national reading celebration takes place each year on or near March 2, the birthday of Dr. Seuss. Across the country, thousands of schools, libraries, and community centers participate by bringing together kids, teens, and books, and you can too.

The National Education Association is building a nation of readers through its signature program, NEA's Read Across America. Now in its thirteenth year, this year-round program focuses on motivating children and teens to read through events, partnerships, and reading resources.

The Fairfax Host Lions Club has 70 members and meets on the first and third Tues of the month from 6:30 PM-8:30 PM at the American Legion Post 177, 3939 Oak Street, Fairfax, VA 22030. Lions clubs are a group of men and women who identify needs within the community and work together to fulfill those needs. For more information or to get involved with the Fairfax Host Lions Club, please contact District Governor Dennis Brining at 703-503-8019, or Email: dlbent@aol.com.

Lions Clubs International is the world’s largest service club organization with more than 1.35 million members in approximately 45,000 clubs in more than 206 countries and geographical areas around the world. Since 1917, Lions clubs have aided the blind and visually impaired and made a strong commitment to community service and serving youth throughout the world. For more information about Lions Clubs International, visit the Web site at www.lionsclubs.org.

###
Contact
Lions Clubs District 24-A
Christina Kinman
540-623-5811
www.valions.org/
ContactContact
Categories