It’s hard to express how deeply honored we felt when our friend Sandra Beckwith asked our advice about a proposed book project. You see, Sandy is herself a published author with lots of experience. And the project is dear to her heart: Bailey’s Book, in memory of Bailey Goodman, one of the five “Fairport Angels” killed in a car accident in Bloomfield in June 2007.
Now the project is getting under way as “a community-wide literacy project” under the auspices of the Fairport Central School District’s (FCSD) Developmental Assets® Initiative. Bailey was a student leader in the developmental asset initiative and, since it meant so much to Bailey, her family designated the program as recipient of contributions made in her memory. The donations will fund the costs of the project and lots of the work will be done by a committee of volunteers, many of them Bailey’s friends and family members.
The full title will be, Bailey’s Book: A Community Celebrates Its Assets. As the project announcement explains, the book will be “a compilation of essays and pictures to be submitted by Fairport students and community members later this fall. Each essay and picture will incorporate at least one of the 40 developmental assets identified by the district’s asset building initiative.”
“This is a wonderful way to remember Bailey’s passion for asset building,” says Debra Tandoi, FCSD asset coordinator. “Bailey’s Book incorporates the district’s commitment to literacy and supporting a caring school community,” she adds.
The project website also notes: “Excerpts from Bailey’s school writing assignments will be interspersed throughout the book in a way that helps people discover what made Bailey special.”
Yvonne and I will be volunteering our time to help the committee with some of the design, layout, and production aspects. WME Books will help arrange for printing and distribution.
You can help, too! One of the goals is “to donate copies of Bailey's Book: A Community Celebrates Its Assets to as many classrooms and students in the Rochester area as possible.” Details on how you can donate to help widen the impact are on the Bailey’s Book website.
Look for progress reports, as we work with the Fairport students, Bailey's friends and family, and community volunteers, to bring this wonderful book project to life.
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