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TEENS RAISE THOUSANDS FOR LOCAL IMAGINATION LIBRARY
Fourteen Soddy Daisy High School students qualify for Gov.s League of Extraordinary Teens
CHATTANOOGA, TENN. (May 12, 2006)? Fourteen Soddy Daisy High School students have fulfilled the requirements to become members of Governor Bredesen's League of Extraordinary Teens?a statewide initiative engaging teens ages 13?19 in the financial and logistical support of Imagination Libraries in Tennessee.Today?at 8 a.m. at Soddy Daisy High School, these local students presented United Way of Greater Chattanooga with a check for the $2,000 they raised to support the Imagination Library program in Hamilton County.
League membership requires teens to personally register a minimum of 10 children and raise a minimum of $135 to cover the cost of those children for their county's Imagination Library for one year. All money raised goes directly to the Imagination Library sponsor in each teen's home county.
Superintendent Dr. Jesse Register and United Way representatives congratulated the 14 Soddy Daisy students who collectively raised $2,000 and enrolled 193 children in the Imagination Library program.
?We hope more teens in our area will follow the lead of these students and participate in this unique initiative,? said Linda McReynolds, United Way's vice president of organizational development. ?This initiative allows high schools students to get engaged in their community by raising funds and awareness for a program that helps prepare the generation behind them for success in school.
The children who were enrolled in the Imagination Library program, offered locally through United Way's Project Ready for School initiative, will each receive a new, age-appropriate book in the mail each month until age five.
The program is offered at no cost to the families in Hamilton and Marion counties because of fundraising efforts by United Way of Greater Chattanooga. Also, Gov. Bredesen's Books from Birth Foundation provides matching dollars to support the program in all participating Tennessee counties.
The teens at Soddy Daisy High School are the first in Hamilton and Marion counties to personally complete the membership requirements. Each of the teens will receive a certificate of appreciation signed by Governor Bredesen, will be recognized on the Governor's Books from Birth Foundation website and listed in the Foundation's quarterly newsletter.
CLICK HERE to find out more about the League of Extraordinary Teens!
CLICK HERE to find out more about Project Ready for School and Imagination Library.
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