New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Student donates science, history books to Boys & Girls Village
MILFORD — As the old saying goes: Think globally, act locally. Trevor Knotwell, a junior at Notre Dame High School in West Haven, found a worthy cause right down the street from his house in Milford.
Trevor rcently completed a personal book drive that resulted in him donating 225 books, valued at over $1,500, to the Milford Boys & Girls Village.
“I wanted to organize a book drive because I pass the Boys & Girls Village every day and learned that they helped at-risk kids and others who are in the foster system,” Trevor said. “I’m lucky enough to go to a great school like Notre Dame and wanted to do something to give back to my community.”
He said that he started the book drive in January and finished it in early March. He asked people to either donate money so that he could order books himself or to order books and ship him to his house. He also made several runs to pick up books that people had donated.
Trevor said he learned that Boys & Girls Village was in particular need of science and history books for elementary school-aged children, and he made a point to specifically ask people to contribute those if possible.
“We received at least 25 to 35 books in the ‘Who Was’ series, which basically tells all about individuals lives in an easy reading format and there were quite a few really cool solar system books too,” he said.
He added that some of those books in the “Who Was” series that he received were “Who Was Jackie Robinson,” “Who was Harriet Tubman,” “Who Was Ruth Bader Ginsberg” and “Who Was Einstein.”
Originally founded as Boys Village in 1942, Boys & Girls Village is a 501(c)3 nonprofit agency that is funded by various state agencies, as well as through voluntary contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations. It provides intensive therapeutic services in the community,
permanency planning, a K-12 day school and residential programming.
About 90 students from across the state attend the Charles F. Hayden school at Boys & Girls Village, which is an approved private
special education facility targeted toward students who have emotional and/or behavioral disabilities.
Trevor said this was the first time he has done anything like organize a book drive,
but it likely won’t be the last. He is already planning next year’s drive.
“I’ll reach out to Boys and Girls Village (next year) to see what type of books they need,” he said.