Rotary donates bookshelves to jail

Members of the Ellensburg Morning Rotary Literacy Committee, Central Washington University Rotaract and CWU's WORD group stand next to bookshelves and books donated to inmates at the Kittitas County Jail.

Members of the Ellensburg Morning Rotary Literacy Committee, Central Washington University Rotaract and CWU's WORD group toured the Kittitas County Jail on May 1. Morning Rotary recently donated six bookshelves to the jail as part of its Books Freeing Minds project.

The bookshelves are set up in the multipurpose room in the new section of the jail. The club and students are collecting paperback books for inmates as part of a larger book drive.

Members who toured the jail were Amanda Bean, Megan Foster, Naomi Barnes and Jaclyn Robertson with WORD. WORD stands for Washington Organization for Reading Development, and is a local chapter of the International Reading Association.

Rotary members in attendance were Erleen Beckley, Judy and Phil Backlund, Joanna Markell, Jack Carpenter and Sheriff Gene Dana, who is a member of the Noon Rotary club. Rotaract members were Shannon Lowry, Lara Abuhudra, Johnny Niguyen and Cassandra Lariza.

The clubs also have been collecting books for Bright Beginnings, Habitat for Humanity and the clean and sober house in Ellensburg.