STAMFORD—A casual conversation about what to do with a library full of books that needed to be cleaned out to make way for the school’s new media center turned into an opportunity to extend the lives of the books by donating them to students and teachers overseas.
The project, spearheaded by the Trinity Catholic High School Scholar’s Program students, took place on a recent Saturday afternoon. Sue Oates, moderator of the school’s Crusaders Corner store, Dr. Peter Umoh and Ms. Becca Corso, faculty members at TCHS, parents Bob Oates and Sally Sluga, along with a team of over 30 current students and international students—and a few incoming 8th grade students—gathered at the school. Instructions: put the books on carts, load the carts into the elevator, bring to the sidewalk, pack in the boxes (supplied by Mike Hennessey of Muscle Men Movers), label and tape the boxes and then load the boxes into the waiting 17 ft UHaul truck. Within three hours almost 4,000 books, ranging from fiction to literature, history, poetry, religion, Shakespeare, and reference materials were removed from the shelves of the library and stacked in the UHaul. The library is now cleared and ready for it’stransformation into a great space for 21st century learning.
This was just the first leg of the project. A team of four volunteers then unloaded the books from the truck and stacked on pallets in a waiting garage. As soon as the funds are raised and the logistics for shipping figure out, these books will ship from New York/NewJersey to St. Anne’s Cathedral, Diocese of Ikot Ekpene, Nigeria. Rev. Dr. Gerald Akata, who helps manage the diocesan Catholic schools in Nigeria, will receive the books—thus completing the transfer of learning tools from one Catholic school to another, continents apart. A win-win for all.
Trinity Catholic High School students hail from 16 communities throughout Fairfield County (Danbury, Darien, Greenwich, New Canaan, Norwalk, Stamford, Westport and Wilton) and Westchester County (Bedford, Hartsdale, Mahopac, New Rochelle, Port Chester, Valhalla, White Plains and Yonkers).
Founded in 1958, Trinity Catholic High School is a Catholic co-educational college preparatory high school of the Diocese of Bridgeport, with a long tradition of excellence in academics, athletics and community service. Trinity Catholic is committed to educating the whole person within the Roman Catholic tradition. It provides an atmosphere of respect and reverence in which each member is able to develop spiritually, morally, intellectually, socially, and physically in order to live as a positive Christian witness and responsible citizen in the service of God and others.
Trinity Catholic High School, located in Stamford, Conneticut, is a coeducational, college preparatory school.
