Scout project a book boon to Quilcene School

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Eagle Scout Brandon Pizzini bestowed an unexpected and welcome gift of 580 books to the Quilcene School library in June. It was his Eagle Scout project.

Pizzini, a member of Troop 5 of Woodinville and a current resident of West Seattle, collected the books from his troop and their families.

He chose Quilcene School for his donation, based on family ties. Pizzini is the grandson of the Millers who ran the Quilcene Cafe, now Twana Roadhouse, and his aunt and uncle are Quilcene grads; his father also attended Quilcene School.

He also received a positive response from Quilcene School librarian Alicia Johnsen.

“I am delighted that Quilcene School library was chosen by Brandon to receive the donation, and all of the work that he put into it was impressive. He really did a nice job, and I am grateful for his efforts,” said Johnsen.

“The donation will bring more books into our collection, and what we aren’t able to use we will be able to give kids to take home to keep and add to their home collections. There were also a few titles that were teacher training-type materials that teachers and staff got to keep if they wished.”

Pizzini announced his project to his troop, with a focus on elementary-level books, asking them, and their friends and families, to donate what they could.

“I did not buy one single book,” he said of the donations. “I didn’t get any that were inappropriate. I made sure people knew who they were donating to.”

MORE THAN EXPECTED

“I was expecting to get about 400 books,” said Pizzini. “When I finally added up all the books, and got 580, I thought, ‘Did we double count or what?’ I checked and we got 580 books!”

Each book was laminated with a plastic cover and labeled as part of the project.

“Each book took about five minutes,” said Pizzini. “Scouts helped, but mostly me and my mom did most of it while watching TV.”

The process took about three weeks, said Pizzini.

The next step was to gather all the books and personally deliver them to the school, and meet Johnsen face to face for the first time.

“When I went to deliver the books, it was 10 times better than I thought,” said Pizzini, “with all the kids helping to put the books in and the kids watching me carry the boxes in. It was just awesome watching the kids’ reaction to the 580 books I brought in.”

“We have approximately 8,674 books in the library, not counting periodicals and audiobooks we have available,” reported Johnsen. “Of the donation of 580, there are probably 200 that will go on our shelves and the rest will be (and some have already been) given out to students to take home.

GOING TO GOOD HOMES

“Because of our limited shelf space, we have to be selective, and the materials need to be fresh and newer to keep readers engaged, but Brandon did the work of covering them with protective covers, so it will just be a matter of cataloging them and they will be ready for the shelves next fall!” said Johnsen.

“It was nice to be able to have the opportunity to send each student home with a book if they chose to take one and promote reading through the summer.”

As for Pizzini, he enjoyed asking one community to come together to provide something needed by another community that is striving.

“I would love to do it again, in two more years,” he said. “I absolutely love it.”

Because Quilcene is part of the CLAN network, its books are available upon request to all library cardholders in the network as well.