High Schooler Raises $9,000 for Library
Student's senior project launches public library's first CD audiobook collection
Walter Minkel -- School Library Journal, 2/1/2003
Cullen conferred with library administrators in March 2002 and devised a clever fund-raising project. She then drafted a letter, with a photograph of herself, asking "Did you like to be read to as a child?," which was mailed to 2,000 former donors and 300 randomly chosen locals based on their ZIP codes. The strategy worked—105 respondents sent more than $9,000 in checks.
James Phelps, the library's development director, said the library had been getting requests for CD audiobooks for years but couldn't afford them.
"It's wonderful to have a teenager step forward and take the initiative like this," says Phelps. Ridgefield High requires seniors to serve the community as part of their senior projects.
