Fort Bliss Monitor

The El Paso Empowerment Zone, with the help of various sponsors including Fort Bliss, hosted the “Read El Paso Read” book giveaway at the Ysleta Independent School District Auditorium all day Saturday.

“Read El Paso Read,” the community-wide initiative aimed to confront El Paso’s literacy concerns, was designed to motivate people of all ages to read by distributing more than 100,000 free books during the year. The initiative came about in part due to growing scrutiny over El Paso’s literacy rate.

While some organizers predicted slightly more than 2,000 people would attend, turnout ended up greater than thought with rough estimates of 10,000 attendees. More than 30 students from Class 02-05 of the Officer Basic Course here spent nearly five hours sorting and arranging approximately 70,000 books by age group and language the day before.

“Things are going really well,” said Capt. Robert McCormick, branch chief for the OBC here. “It was great seeing Col. Greenwald, Congressman Reyes and the Ysleta School District volunteers. The turnout has been wonderful so far … Class 02-05 has done a wonderful job supporting the community.”

“This is an awesome event,” announced Col. Bryon E. Greenwald, Garrison commander. “I was here before 9 and there was already a line … I just want to say thanks for letting us help out.”

“This is awesome,” said Carol Brey-Casiano, president, American Library Association. “This is a new event and you never know if you’ve got the word out. When it comes to books, people are so hungry for them that they just turn out. It shows what kind of community we have here.”

Brey-Casiano also cited the event as a great opportunity for parents to read more to their children, and thanked Fort Bliss for its involvement.

“This is great,” said Monika Velez, an attendee who drove to the event with her son from Deming. “I cannot believe there has been such a great turnout. It’s great for children and adults.”



www.bliss.army.mil	Published for the Fort Bliss/El Paso, Texas Community	February 24, 2005

2nd Lt. Brian Haggerty, a student of Class 02-05 of OBC, unloads children’s books. <map name="boxmap-b4"> <area shape="rect" coords="0, 589, 120, 600" href="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm/privacy-policy.html?o=1" > <area coords="0,0,10000,10000" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=&creative=92501&camp=8117&link_code=dl1&path=subst/misc/amazon-cobrand-cc/v3/marketing-from-associates-step1.html/ref%3Db1_assoc_29" > </map>	Bliss participates in ‘Read El Paso Read’ giveaway Spc. Steve Baack Monitor Staff Col. Bryon E. Greenwald, Garrison commander, helps Carol Brey-Casiano, president of the American Library Asociation, and Congressman Silvestre Reyes cut the ribbon shortly after the start of the book giveaway Saturday.
	The El Paso Empowerment Zone, with the help of various sponsors including Fort Bliss, hosted the “Read El Paso Read” book giveaway at the Ysleta Independent School District Auditorium all day Saturday. “Read El Paso Read,” the community-wide initiative aimed to confront El Paso’s literacy concerns, was designed to motivate people of all ages to read by distributing more than 100,000 free books during the year. The initiative came about in part due to growing scrutiny over El Paso’s literacy rate. While some organizers predicted slightly more than 2,000 people would attend, turnout ended up greater than thought with rough estimates of 10,000 attendees. More than 30 students from Class 02-05 of the Officer Basic Course here spent nearly five hours sorting and arranging approximately 70,000 books by age group and language the day before. “Things are going really well,” said Capt. Robert McCormick, branch chief for the OBC here. “It was great seeing Col. Greenwald, Congressman Reyes and the Ysleta School District volunteers. The turnout has been wonderful so far … Class 02-05 has done a wonderful job supporting the community.” “This is an awesome event,” announced Col. Bryon E. Greenwald, Garrison commander. “I was here before 9 and there was already a line … I just want to say thanks for letting us help out.” “This is awesome,” said Carol Brey-Casiano, president, American Library Association. “This is a new event and you never know if you’ve got the word out. When it comes to books, people are so hungry for them that they just turn out. It shows what kind of community we have here.” Brey-Casiano also cited the event as a great opportunity for parents to read more to their children, and thanked Fort Bliss for its involvement. “This is great,” said Monika Velez, an attendee who drove to the event with her son from Deming. “I cannot believe there has been such a great turnout. It’s great for children and adults.”