New Zion church gives books to Clarendon schools

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Betsy and Steve Owens of Summerton drove up to a warehouse in Florence Tuesday morning and came back with a trailer full of books. By early afternoon on Tuesday, five schools received about 6,000 books free of charge. "We're just servants delivering books," Betsy Owens said while she and her husband unloaded boxes oat Manning Elementary. Their church, New Zion United Methodist Church, took part in a statewide effort with a simple goal. "The whole idea is to get books to children who don't have any," Steve Owens said, with the hope that each child will go home with two books. For his wife, who taught kindergarten for 35 years with stints at the early childhood centers in Manning and Summerton, the project was near and dear. "This is my thing," she said. "My heart is warm." The Rev. Jack Vickers, pastor for Liberty Chapel United Methodist and Friendship United Methodist in Florence, said distributing the books across the state was not just to battle illiteracy, but more than that. "There was a vision of gathering a million books to put in children's hands to help them enjoy reading and break the ties of poverty and lack of reading," he said. "Our hope is that folks will be moved with compassion for giving the books but also get involved with mentoring and reading programs." Vickers guessed about 120,000 books were collected and there's still about 10,000 to 20,000 to distribute. "It was a big effort," he said. Owens said the United Methodist Conference raised $309,000 toward the effort, which helped see Manning Early Childhood Center receive 1,800 books; Summerton Early Childhood Center receive 750 books; Walker Gamble Elementary School receive 1,400 books; Manning Primary receive 1,000 books and Manning Elementary receive 1,300 books. Dr. Rose Wilder, superintendent of Clarendon School District 1, said she was heartened to hear about the donation to the Summerton Early Childhood Center. "I think it's wonderful," she said. "Literacy is our focus and it's wonderful when our faith based community supports our schools. This donation will greatly benefit the literacy program at that level."