here are dozens of good people in every community who will want to help, and there certainly are jobs for them to do. But your central committee must be composed of individuals who are in key positions, have particular skills, or established leaders who have a reputation for getting things done. Looking back, this is the real strength of our project here in Conway, and they were all selected by just two individuals, the chair and co-chair of the project.

n one way or another, illiteracy impacts everyone in your community, and it is very important that your project, and your central committee, have its own identity, like the Conway Bookcase Project, and not a project of city government, a school district, a particular civic club, church, chamber of commerce, or any other organization. To do otherwise will severely limit the scope of your project, and then it would not be a community project that involves all of your citizens.

fter you develop a list of outstanding individuals from all across your community, who you feel will make outstanding members, your leader can go talk with them individually, share the need, goals and purpose of having a bookcase project in your community. When they understand what you are doing to combat illiteracy, and its negative effects, they will get on board and be just as enthusiastic as you are about making a difference.

our leader should be retired or semi-retired, but most of your committee members may still be working and they should understand that serving on your committee will not take much of their time. Here in our community we have two events or functions that highlight our year. First, the “Bookcase Literacy Banquet” to raise the funds to build the bookcases, and secondly, the “Annual Awards Ceremony” when we present the bookcases and books to our children and their parents. To plan and carry out these events we only have one committee meeting each year. We get together as a committee to plan for our Awards Ceremony, and all other communication is done by telephone, written correspondence, or group e-mail. Technology is wonderful.

our main or central committee should have no more than 15 members, but can function with as few as 6 to 8 members. After you get your members on board, you should have your first meeting to select a chairperson, if no leader was readily apparent, a secretary to take minutes, and make some important assignments. Your “leader” may or may not be your chairperson, but the odds are good they will be because they have been instrumental in getting the project organized. Generally speaking, there should be a printed agenda so all members will be on the same page.

o as to leave nothing to chance, we felt it might be helpful if you could see who is on our committee and the reasons they were asked to serve. Phyliss Fry, director of the Head Start program, has the children to whom we are giving bookcases and books, along with reading to them each week; Mickey Cox, master craftsman who recruited a team of fellow craftsmen to build the bookcases; Linda Hammontree heads up our “Bookcase Literacy Banquet” fundraiser, and has recruited some outstanding people to decorate the banquet room and purchase the necessary supplies; Larry Pillow, a pastor who allows us to use their church fellowship hall to build the bookcases in air conditioned comfort with bathrooms and a coffee pot close by.

en Ingram an architect who drew the original plans and helps in so many other ways; Amanda Moore, a college Head Librarian, secured over 700 books from various sources to give to our children; Ruth Voss, Director of Faulkner County Library System, has made us welcome at our large county library to hold our Annual Awards Ceremony; Linda Linn is a well known businesswoman/ philanthropist who has opened many doors of support in the community; Jerry Glover, owns a pickup truck and helped transport gently used children’s books to storage.

andall Aragon, before his retirement, was Chief of Police and the Co-Founder of the project. He gave us real creditability in the community; Senator Stanley Russ, a member of the Arkansas State Senate for 26 years, served as the emcee for both of our fundraising banquets; Mary Boyd, head of our local housing authority, has over 180 children who are in low-income families; Nancy Mitchell, a past President of the Faulkner County Retired Teachers Association, served as our Reading Coordinator for one semester, and organized a group of her fellow teachers to sort donated books by reading levels; Jim Davidson, Founder, who kept the project before the community until it was up and running strong.

t is important to see that one or more members of your central committee can head up a task force, as the need arises, to keep the project moving forward until the annual cycle is complete; our local newspaper, the Log Cabin Democrat, and other area media, kept the project before the public that made success possible. We will explore the role of the media in the next section; Our publisher Scot Morrissey, has since moved to another newspaper. More importantly, he assigned some of his best staff reporters to give us outstanding publicity.

Arkansas Governor Mike Beeebe	On August 18, 2008 our committee, featured in the banner above, was presented a "Proclamation" by Governor Mike Beebe proclaiming the week of October 12-18, 2008 as “Bookcase Literacy Week” in the State of Arkansas.