I am a fifth grader at Schiller Elementary School in the Cabrini Green neighborhood of Chicago. It’s not a very good place. We need more flowers and grass.
MADE POSSIBLE BY
Hello. I am in fifth grade at Schiller Elementary in Cabrini Green. I would like to tell you that I think we should build more homes and playgrounds and plant flowers to make this neighborhood prettier. We need more social activities, books, and supplies at school. We need more police officers and security guards because of the shooting, fighting, and killing. We need more stores, jobs, homeless shelters and more food.
I live in Chicago and I hope you make our city a better place. I hope the people who do bad things go to jail, and I hope you put more flowers and grass where I live. I wish that you would make my neighborhood a safer place. I hope you stop the people that are selling drugs. Our community needs to be cleaned up, and people need more opportunities. Please keep the parks and playgrounds the same so we always have a place to play. Please keep my family safe and help give more money and homes to the people who need them.
My neighborhood is dangerous because people around here like to fight and it is scary. I would like it to be safer and have more protection. I attend fifth grade at Schiller Elementary School in Cabrini Green, and I like it because the people that go here make me feel happy. I wish there were more grass and more flowers and trees to make it look prettier. I think we need to clean up the neighborhood because it is dirty. My dream for Cabrini Green is for it to be peaceful and for everyone to get along. I dream that the buildings are shiny and clean, and that the parks are pretty so everyone can enjoy them.
|
Dear friends of Open Books,
We’re thrilled to announce the expansion of an inspiring project – the Open Books Reading Garden! It started with the dreams of our students, and we need your help to make those dreams come true.
In April, we asked 5th graders at Schiller Elementary to write letters to the next U.S. president about their neighborhood and the nation. You can see some of those letters on the left-hand side of this page. Nearly all the students wrote about how much they would love to see plants and flowers around their school and the Cabrini-Green housing projects where they live.
Just a few blocks away in the Open Books office, we read those letters and said to ourselves, “Hey! We don’t have to wait for a president to help with that!” So, on May 22, 2008, volunteers, teachers, students, and Open Books staff planted trees and flowers in front of Schiller (taking reading breaks along the way, of course).
Open Books’ specialty is literacy, though, not gardening – so we went to the experts for guidance. We send our thanks to Christy Webber Landscapes, one of the finest garden design firms in all of Chicago, and Eliza Fournier, Director of Community Outreach for the Chicago Botanic Garden, for their generous donations of beautiful plants. We couldn’t have done it without them!
Now Open Books plans to expand the garden – with your help!
• Can you donate time, materials, money, or plants for this project?
OR
• Can you put us in touch with someone who can?
If you would like to help Open Books grow the beautiful, nurturing reading garden for students at Schiller School, please contact Lane at limberman@open-books.org.
In exchange for your help, we'll be delighted to thank you or your company or organization on the Open Books website (which receives 7,400 hits per month), in our newsletter, and via word of mouth to our 1,000+ members. Partnership with Open Books will make you feel – and look – good! Our fun and colorful brand coupled with our very important mission has brought us a high profile, with features in publications ranging from TimeOut Chicago magazine to CBS and FOX news.
Thank you for reading! I look forward to hearing from you.
Let’s put the "Green" back in Cabrini Green!
Lane Imberman
Literacy Intern
|
Want to see the Open Books Reading Garden at Schiller?
Check out our Garden Photo Set!
Support the Schiller Garden
|
|
