Book and Snack Mobile! Ribbon Cutting
Book & Snack Mobile
Christened For
Summer Youth
A new community service was born May 10 at Holman Park Elementary School with the christening of a shiny, new and colorful Book & Snack Mobile which will begin providing both nutrition and reading supplement this summer. The inaugural ribbon-cutting was performed by Caring Community Friends (CCF) Executive Director Dr. Camille Teale and Sapulpa Public Schools (SPS) Superintendent Robert Armstrong. Later, the vehicle visited three additional elementary schools for students, faculty and administration to visit.
The new vehicle (a highly converted and designed school bus) will visit tactical areas daily where a high student population is known to exist in Sapulpa, providing its youth the opportunity to receive both nutritional and out-of-school reading supplementation. It will visit preselected neighborhood parks and school facilities on a set schedule.
The concept was born in a meeting when Armstrong asked his staff to “Dream the Impossible.” A bookmobile was suggested. It was picked up and expanded by Dr. Camille Teale, Executive Director of Caring Community Friends, Creek County’s largest food pantry to provide food availability. “It was a perfect opportunity for ‘Collective Impact’ ”, Teale explained, “where different parts of the community work together to solve a specific social problem.”
Such contributions included SPS’s donation of the school bus and a driver to operate the moving literacy/commissary vehicle around Sapulpa all summer long. CCF will provide and package the food items in cooperation with the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma which has endorsed the project as an official summer feeding site. The bus conversion, both inside and out is contributed by a Tulsa Area United Way Social Innovation Grant. Books have been donated by a number of outside sources in Northeastern Oklahoma.
The design of the bus’s exterior hopes to appeal to children, it depicts the imagination and fantasies found in story books. “It’s a student-friendly concept,” continued Teale, “offering whimsical appeal to our target audience.”
In addition to finding summertime-reading material, students will be given shelf-stable boxed meals to carry home as well as on-site snacks. All children are eligible, from primary through high school.
CCF is a non-profit organization which has served the Sapulpa, Kellyville, Kiefer, Oakhurst and Mounds communities for over 25 years. It is located at 12 W. Burnham Ave. in Sapulpa, phone 918-224-6464. Full information is available at www.CCFOK.org.
