Books & Balls

In October of 2008 Random Acts had our very first Books and Balls for Kids program at Alameda Elementary in Albuquerque's north valley. With doners including Radiant Heating, Barnes and Nobel, Hastings, Sports Authority and Big 5  the event was a huge success. Firefighters showed up in BCFD Truck 31 and participated in the schools annual career day, showing the children the truck and all of our equipment. At their recess break we had all the children gather around the truck, which was filled with the donated sports balls, and talked to them about the importance of reading and focusing on their school work. The firefighters then presented the school's librarian with a box full of books for the school library. The children all seemed excited at the prospect of a new influx of books that would be made available to them. We then asked the children to gather around the truck and had one of the children open the door to the cab. All of the balls came pouring out onto the playground sending the kids into a frenzy of excitement. The children and staff were smiling and laughing, children scrambling around to pick up the balls. We gathered for a few photos and then let the children go back to class. The firefighters then went into the third grade classes and presented every child with their very own dictionary that they could take home. The dictionaries were donated by Radiant Heating here in Albuquerque, as an ongoing mission on their part to help with the literacy of our school children. The dictionaries are specifically written to the third grade level and designed to help them with vocabulary and reading comprehension. The event was a huge success and we hope to have more like it in other schools in the future. A special thanks to the crew of Station 35 "B" Battalion.