S.A.B. members Kari Pfeiffer and Kevin Brown help prepare the Library for their move.
On Saturday, March 16, 38 high school students descended upon the Main Clearwater Public Library in an attempt to remove the library's entire collection of books and reading materials. This wasn't an act of protest or anger, but rather an act of kindness and community service.
The Main Clearwater Public Library is moving their books to a temporary storage facility and was looking for volunteers to help pack, label and transport the books to their new temporary location. The students who volunteered are members of the Buccaneers Student Advisory Board (SAB) and represent 25 Hillsborough, Pinellas, Manatee, and Polk county high schools.
"For years we've been trying to get a new library and the city finally agreed to build a new one on the same site as the old one," said Clearwater Library Youth Services Manager Jana Fine. "Since it will take about two years to build the new library we need to temporarily house our materials and only about 40-50% of our inventory will be available in our temporary location."
The SAB chose to help the Clearwater Library relocate their materials based upon the recommendation of board member Kevin Brown from Dunedin High School.
"I've been involved with the (Clearwater Library) Youth Advisory Committee since I was in middle school, so I knew in advance of the relocation" said Brown. "I knew we needed some help and thought it would be a good idea to involve the SAB as one of our community service projects."
The goals of the SAB are to serve as liaisons between the Buccaneers and their schools and to help improve the Bay Area by participating in community service projects. During their one-year term, Board members have the opportunity to attend Buccaneers training camp practices, have dinner with the players and tour Raymond James Stadium.
So far this year, SAB members have participated in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Women's Organization Fall Festival, a Halloween Party at the Children's Home that featured pumpkin carving and trick-or-treat bag decorating, the Thanksgiving Gift Basket distribution at Metropolitan Ministries, the Glazer Family Foundation's Halloween Celebration at Lowry Park Zoo and "Can Hunger" canned food drive, the Toys for Tots donation at Raymond James Stadium, the Gatorade Youth Football Clinic Event at Joshua House with Mike Alstott and Dave Moore, Susan B. Komen's Race for the Cure and a Tampa Bay Buccaneers Rookie Club Event at the West Tampa Boys & Girls Club.
The SAB couldn't have picked a more perfect March day to continue their long list of community service projects. The sky was cloudless and the attitudes of the library employees and student volunteers were as bright as the sun.
With the students and staff ready to go, the day's work began. The students split up into groups and began the monumental task of transplanting an entire library into boxes. Moving the books from shelves to boxes isn't the easiest of tasks, especially when you have to enter the books into a computer database to show which books will be maintained in storage and which ones will remain on the shelves at the new temporary facility.
"The students helped pull the books from the shelves, packed them in boxes and updated the computer system for us," said Fine. "It's a very large undertaking to move an entire library of about 200,000 books and we certainly appreciate the help that the SAB has provided."
Fine's words were backed up by her actions as the Clearwater Library bought pizza for all of the SAB volunteers to honor their effort.
"The day went pretty well," said Brown. "We finished almost all of the section that was plotted out for us and I know that Jana and the rest of the library staff appreciated our efforts. The pizza was a pleasant surprise."
After the day was done, the library wasn't completely dismantled, but it was well on its way. Which, in case you were still wondering, is a good thing, a very good thing.
For more information on how you can become a Buccaneer Student Advisory Board Member, call 813-870-2700 ext. 274. Applications for the 2002-2003 Student Advisory Board are currently being accepted.
To find out how you can assist the Clearwater Public Library, please call Jana Fine at 727-462-6800 ext. 242.
The 2001-2002 Student Advisory Board Members are Lisa Bardwell (Eastlake), Meghan Bowles (Tarpon Springs), Kevin Brown (Dunedin), Mika Bulmash (Blake), Brian Calhoun (Brandon), Michael Carty (Durant), Maria Cevallos (Wharton), April Coates (Wharton), Zachry Cooper (H.B. Plant), Jarod Dicks (Plant City), Johnny Dicks (Plant City), Aaron Garcia (Armwood), Shelley Griffin (Plant City), Ricky Harb (Berkeley Prep), Carlista Hawls (Thomas Jefferson), Christina Hernandez (H.B. Plant), Amanda Kern (Tarpon Springs), Jeffrey Livingston (Palm Harbor University), Brandi Mabe (Blake), Brittany Mills (Manatee), Tyrone Moses (Sickles), Ari Nikjeh (Palm Harbor University), Kari Pfeiffer (Palm Harbor University), Hailey Pike (Tampa Bay Technology), Ashley Potter (All Saint's Academy), Matthew Riebow (Armwood), Robert Sadler (Durant), Christopher Sampson (Hillsborough), Matthew Scott (Jesuit), Candace Sharrow (East Lake), Nida Siddiqi (Tampa Bay Technology), Christine Spiker (Bloomingdale), Robyn Stambaugh (Boca Ciega), Kayce Tillett (East Bay), Melissa Valdes (Sickles), Torran Wakefield (Leto), Christy Walker (Durant) and Mackenzie Wilkinson (Riverview).
