Students build bookshelves for Centerboard

LYNN – Lynn Vocational Technical Institute junior Anthony Sure said he liked building bookshelves for Centerboard’s “Big Red Bookshelf” program because it was for a good cause.”It was a good learning experience,” he said. “It made me a better painter.”LVTI juniors Aliana Colon, Ryan Danh-Him, Delmo Erazo-Tejada, Rafelina Garcia, Chanton Ly, Gabriel Ortiz, Michael Paguero, Timothy Patten, Isaiah Walker and Sure worked on the shelves that are in part Centerboard’s efforts to continue a citywide literacy campaign.Centerboard is a non-profit organization focused on the revitalization of Lynn.”Specifically our goal is to get as many books in the hands of students as we can,” said Special Project Coordinator Carla Scheri.Centerboard is working with a Boston based non-profit “More Than Words,” which provides them with free books that they in turn hand out to children for free.”We bring the shelves to the school, there is usually a monitor in the school that keeps an eye on the books and when they need more books we bring them to them,” Scheri said.Scheri said any school that is interested can have a shelf.Carpentry teacher Brian Borders said the LVTI students have built 12 bookshelves altogether but he expects more orders. Sure said the project was fairly simple, students followed a plan, cut and sanded each piece, put the bookshelves together, and primed and painted them bright red.”Usually I would rush through painting but these are going somewhere where people will be looking at them so I had to take my time,” Sure said. “It taught me patience.”Scheri said news about the project is spreading largely because, “We just tell anyone who will listen that we have free books.”Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].