Mesquite Rotary Club members worked side-by-side with retired Mesquite teachers on September 15th and 16th to sort, label, and deliver books to all Mesquite ISD second graders.
Since 2015, the Mesquite Rotary Club has donated funds each year in support of the Mesquite Association of Retired School Employees’ Book Project. Combined with funds donated by MARSE members, this normally enables the project to give a book to each first grade student in the district. This fall’s Book Project work was delayed from its usual spring schedule due to the Covid-19 lockdown that prevented the usual delivery of books to MISD first graders. A delivery of books to this year’s first graders will take place next spring.
The MARSE Book Project began in 1999 when the local unit of the Texas Retired Teachers Association joined with the statewide group’s effort. The books given out are new ones, and they are specially selected to coordinate with the children’s reading curriculum in their schools. The project is designed to promote the love of reading, the development of students’ personal book collections, and to assist in the development of the students’ reading skills. The Book Project committee chair for MARSE is Susan Cumby.