Three Schools Receive $5,000 from Laura Bush Foundation to Add to Book Collections

Amanda Brasfield

Media coordinators at three Winston-Salem/Forsyth County schools are each receiving a $5,000 grant from The Laura Bush Foundation for America ’s Libraries to expand, update and diversify their library book collections.

The three are Amanda Brasfield at Ashley IB Magnet School, Cindy Taylor at Cook Elementary School and Mary Jo Naber at Mineral Springs Middle School.

"We are so excited at Ashley to receive this funding,” Brasfield said. “I wrote the grant to increase our collection of books in Spanish for our Dual Language Immersion Program. This $5,000 will double our current holdings."

Mary Jo Naber

“I want to use the Laura Bush grant to support the teachers in the library with the new Common Core standards, arts-related books, personal reading and books to support our Spanish speaking population,” Naber said. “I know that there will be more when I start meeting with teachers in the fall and discussing their needs further.”


Across the country, 212 school libraries are being awarded a total of $1.06 million grants for 2013.

In 2012, Samra Childers, the media coordinator at Speas Elementary School, received a grant from the foundation.

The grant application process is administered by The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region with guidance from The Laura Bush Foundation’s Advisory Committee. The grants are funded through donations to the endowment from individuals, corporations and foundations.

The Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries was founded in 2002 as a fund of The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region. Since its inception, the Laura Bush Foundation has awarded more than $10.5 million to schools in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Marshall Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. In addition to these yearly grants, the Foundation has also awarded more than $6.3 million to school libraries in the Gulf Coast  region to rebuild their library book collections that were lost or destroyed by hurricanes or storms.

The mission of the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries is to support the education of our nation’s children by providing funds to update, extend and diversify the book and print collections of America’s school libraries.

For more information, go www.laurabushfoundation.org