Local Women Help District School Rebuild Library

By Mary McCarthy
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the issue of 10/17/02)

The students have waited two years for their dream to come true. They gathered in the auditorium at Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian School in Southeast Washington on Oct. 10. They waited eagerly to thank to the people who built their library.

"I am happy that now every student can go to the library," said Sandra Merchant-Bell, an eighth-grade student.

For the past year, fourth-grader Sterling Willis would approach the principal, Martina Matthews, almost every day to ask, "Is it done yet? When will it open?"

For this reason, Matthews chose him to personally thank the Christ Child Society for all of its help in building the library.

Mariann Cowley and Roseanne Kelly, co-chairwomen of the Mildred Merrick Chapter of the Christ Child Society, and society member Janeen Erhart, represented the society at the opening of the library at Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian School.

The Christ Child Society, a nonprofit volunteer organization that serves the needs of children, regardless of race or creed, initiated the drive for resources, money and manpower.

Each Christ Child Society chapter adopts at least one elementary school and decides how to support it. When the women of the Christ Child Society approached Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian asking what they could do, they expected to purchase equipment for the school, such as books or basketballs. They were somewhat surprised when they were asked to build a library. However, the women were impressed by the teachers and students of the school and their dedication to learning, and they realized how much a properly equipped library would serve these children. The school has over 200 students in Kindergarten through the eighth grade.

The Christ Child Society received a lot of help in turning a storage room into the new library at Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian School. The society has been working on the project for over two years, and it will continue to work on it so that the library may be kept up to date. Janeen Erhart, a member of the Christ Child Society was at the ceremony to thank the many people who helped.

They received a lot of help from Sallie Mae Inc. which set up a fund for the cause.

The librarian at St. Luke School in Manassas, Mary Ann Payton, donated her time and expertise to help the Christ Child Society in finding out what books it should include and how to catalogue them. Parents from St. Luke School also gave books to the school as a Christmas present last year.

St. Teresa School in Ashburn experienced a flood where some of its books were destroyed. However, the insurance company covered the cost to replace all of the books, so the undamaged books were donated to the Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian library. The students at Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian were in shock last year as box after box full of books were unloaded at their school.

They also enlisted the help of Gonzaga College High School students in cleaning out the storage room that would become the library, plastering, painting, and building and installing the new bookshelves. Two students, Joseph Chongpinitchai and Dominic Pasion, were at the library opening to receive thanks from the Christ Child Society.

Nancy McKinley of the Librarians Outreach Effort donated her time and expertise to help organize the library. She runs a business that performs this service for people, but refused to let the Christ Child Society pay her in full for her services.

Also present at the opening of the new library, to speak on behalf of Laura Bush, was the former first lady of Pennsylvania, Michelle Ridge. Ridge is also a librarian and expressed what a great occasion it was to celebrate the opening of a library. She told the students, "Learning is a treasure that follows its owner everywhere."

In her closing remarks, Matthews pledged that she and the school will love and cherish the library, just as they love and cherish their new friends.

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