Altona Lagoon Book Club Donates $1,000 in Books
- Mark Dworkin
- Mar 27
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 24
The Altona Lagoon Book Club loves giving books to St. Croix schools. They are an organization that firmly believes Victor Hugo’s famous words: “To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.”
Their book club recently donated $1,000 worth of marvelous books to the Alfredo Andrews Elementary School in Kingshill, St Croix.
“Our Blazers recently received some awesome books to add to our expanding collection donated by the Altona Lagoon Book Club,” said a school spokesperson. “We are thankful for their thoughtful gift that allows our students to continue fostering their love of reading here at Alfredo Andrews Elementary School.”
The school was recently approved for a $75 million grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to the Virgin Islands Department of Education on St. Croix in order to demolish and replace Alfredo Andrews Elementary School due to the severe damage it suffered as a direct result from Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Principal, Dr. Vincent Gordon and Librarian Victoria Guanzon were on hand to accept the gracious gift of books from Altona Lagoon Book Club members Gail Quinn, Decolious Johnson, Kathy Newman and the club’s President, Leonor Gillette, who started the book club with six members and has now risen to a membership of twenty.
“We love giving books to the schools,” said Ms. Gillette. “Reading opens a whole New World to the reader and we encourage students to read.”
This has been the fourth year the Altona Lagoon Book Club has donated books to elementary schools on St. Croix. Past recipients include Juanita Gardine K-8 School, Claude O. Markoe Elementary School and Pearl B. Larsen School. The gifts have totaled $5,000 worth of books to public elementary schools.
In past year’s their sponsors included Keith O’Neil, Pro Solar and Food Town. This year they were not in need of a monetary sponsor.
The Altona Lagoon Book Club meets once a month at the Cafe Rouge in Christiansted. They are thankful that the popular Cafe tucked in behind Rouge Duty Free on Company Street allows them to hold their meetings.
