Reading is Fundamental and Local Officials Honor Past Presidents
Reading is Fundamental and Barnes & Noble booksellers featured a Presidents Day event in Pensacola. During this event local officials, including Mayor Ashton Hayward, Assistant Superintendent of Escambia County Schools, Steve Marcanio, and the co-president of the Pensacola Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, Mike Clapsadl, shared fun facts about past United States Presidents.
Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward and Newpoint Academy Pensacola student, Brandon Fulater share facts about President Abraham Lincoln.
Students from local Middle Schools, dressed as their favorite U.S. Presidents, competed in a costume contest. The winners were rewarded with their choice of featured President books from Barnes & Noble.
Retired Washington, D.C. police officer and Deputy US Marshall, Robert Nicholson discussed the protective presidential detail.
In addition, retired Washington, D.C. police officer and U.S. Deputy Federal Marshall, Robert Nicholson discussed the protective detail for U.S. Presidents and included facts about legal currency, one of the original reasons for the creation of the Secret Service.
To open the program, Scout Troop 628 Honor Guard presented the Colors.Bugler Scotty Mills, sounded “Attention to Colors” and closed the program with “Taps.”
Boy Scout Troop 628 and Bugler, Scotty Mills, added patriotic touches providing the presentation of colors and “Taps.”
Reading is Fundamental, Pensacola Chapter, is the longest functioning literacy chapter in the state of Florida. Their program is strongly endorsed by the Escambia County School system. “Putting a book in the hands of a child means transforming the life of that child and everyone around them,” said Escambia Co. Superintendent of Schools, Malcolm Thomas. Federal funding for this program, designed to provide free books to the economically disadvantaged, was eliminated during 2011 budget cuts. All funds for these programs are collected on a local basis. If you would like to donate to this program, contact: rifofPensacola@gmail.com.
Pensacola, FL – Local officials including the Mayor of Pensacola, Ashton Hayward, and Escambia County Superintendent of Schools, Malcolm Thomas, will participate in a special Presidents Day read-along for children and adults at the annual Presidents Day Book Fair at Barnes & Noble in Pensacola on Saturday, February 14, 2015.
Benefits Reading is Fundamental
The Free event, which benefits the Reading Is Fundamental literacy program for children by providing free books to children in impoverished areas, begins at 2:00 PM, at the Barnes & Noble store in Pensacola located at 1200 Airport Blvd.
Student readers chosen from Ferry Pass Middle School, Newpoint Pensacola Academy and Bellview Middle School will read story excerpts about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. Special guests will include Secret Service Agent Jonathan Woolcock and former Washington, DC Police Officer and US Marshall Robert Nicholson.
Programs like Reading is Fundamental are Critical
“Programs like this one are so important to our community.” says Superintendent Thomas. “Putting a book in the hand of a child means transforming the life of that child and everyone around them.”
A talk about the American Presidency and the President’s job will be given by Mike Clapsadl, Co-President of the Pensacola Chapter of Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge. Boy Scout Troop 628 Honor Guard will post colors at the program with bugle calls provided by Military Bugler, Scotty Mills.
James Loyd, Community Relations Manager for Barnes & Noble, says his staff are always excited about these events with Reading Is Fundamental. Free books and prizes will be provided for children who attend the event dressed as their favorite President.
Note: The opportunity to learn to read for every child in the United States has become a critical issue in the success of our education programs. Reading is Fundamental (RIF) is the largest and most effective literacy program in the United States. Each year RIF provides 4.5 million children with 16 million new, free books together with literacy resources for impoverished children from birth to age 8 years. In addition to schools, RIF provides books to shelters, HEADSTART programs and rural areas. www.rif.org
When 90-year-old George Mills met Holly Shelton at a Yoga class she was teaching at the Haven assisted living, they became fast friends. In time George revealed his participation in the attack on Pearl Harbor and the frustration he felt as he helplessly watched the attack. He expressed a desire to make one last trip to Pearl to pay his respects to all his brothers in arms that had made the ultimate sacrifice that day and throughout the war – to say one last goodbye.
Holly was determined to make this happen for George and the more she thought about it, she began wondering if there were others that might appreciate making this trip. That’s when George told her about the Pearl Harbor Survivor’s Association, Chapter 138, in Pensacola. She put out the word about her idea whenever she spoke to people and soon a group of interested folks began to gather. Bill Phillips, USAF, (Ret.) signed on as co-organizer, since he had connections in Hawaii from his recent assignments there.
Our friend Charlie Crumpton, then president of the Wide Angle Photo Club telephoned us and told us about the project, “She needs ya’ll ‘s help,” he said. When Holly arranged a meeting with the Survivors we went, too. They enthusiastically embraced the idea and the project began.
Photo by Rusty Buggy Enterprises
The plan was to engage the community in support of the trip. We began gathering information to share with them. Our first task was to create a website with videos of our National Heroes, information about the trip and set up a way to receive donations on line. Http://PearlHarborHonorFlight.com has become a record of not only the living survivor’s stories but also those recorded by some of the other members of the original 80 plus chapter members, and a storyline of all the fund raising events and the trip that followed.
To make a long story short, we made connections with Gary Sinese, the spokes-person for American Airlines’ Air Compassion for Veterans, who made flight arrangements for the survivors, caregivers, and a documentary team. The Escambia and Santa Rosa communities came together making contributions to cover the remaining expenses for the trip. Everyone on the team was a volunteer. They all wanted to be able to say “Thank You” to our Pearl Harbor Survivors for their service and sacrifices and to be a part of helping an elderly veteran say “One Last Goodbye” to his comrades who died that day so long ago.
Photo by Rusty Buggy Enterprises
The book, “Pearl Harbor Honor Flight: One Last Goodbye,” is a compilation of this fund raising project and subsequent trip. We are honored to have given our time, talents and support to this project. Since it’s publication, our efforts have been focused on getting the word out. Not so much for our benefit, but rather to share the stories of our local Pearl Harbor Survivors, our National Treasures, and to stir an interest in the history of the Pearl Harbor and World War II era among young and old. Many of us don’t know what we don’t know about this time and we should – if for no other reason, to avoid repeating it.
To help build and refresh memories about the Pearl Harbor attack, a presentation at the Pensacola Barnes & Noble store at the Pearl Harbor Day Book Fair was held on December 6th, 2014. Three local Pearl Harbor Survivors: Bill Braddock, Cass Phillips, and Frank Emond along with authors Billie and Robert Nicholson shared stories from the book, “Pearl Harbor Honor Flight: One Last Goodbye.” Students from Tate High School, Newpoint Pensacola Academy and Boy Scout Troops 603 and 438 participated.
Photo by Rusty Buggy Enterprises
Organized and directed by Dianna Roberts of CBTR, Inc., this program benefited the Reading is Fundamental Program. RIF, by the way, is a literacy group, whose federal support was eliminated in 2011. Their mandate is to share new books with school age children to encourage reading as well as instill a reverence for books and their value. The Pensacola Chapter of Reading is Fundamental, directed by retired school teachers, Beverly Barberi and Elaine Sites, is the most active chapter in the state of Florida. They distributed over $8,000 worth of books to under-priveleged schools in Escambia County last year. Additional book fairs are scheduled at Barnes & Noble throughout the year.
Does your family have military veterans? Begin a conversation with them with a thank you. Maybe they’ll tell you the rest of the story …
