ROCHESTER — Second-grade students at Roberto Clemente School No. 8 received their own bookshelves and books from a collaboration between the Rochester Public Library and St. Michael’s Woodshop.
More than 1,000 children’s books donated by Goodwill were delivered to the school on April 6. Each child chose 16 books and one of 60 brightly colored bookshelves built by the youths who are part of St. Michael’s Woodshop, according to information from James Smith, the woodshop’s director.
Shelley Matthews, the Rochester-area literacy coordinator for the library, initiated the project with the woodshop, which began as a Sisters of Mercy ministry and is now overseen by Church of the Assumption in Fairport and St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Parish. The Rochester Lions Club sponsored the bookshelf production under the direction of one of the students, Carlise Smith, according to James Smith.
Lions Club members, woodshop board members, teachers, older students and other volunteers also helped with the April 6 event.
