Elementary School Vending Machine Dispenses Free Books

Students at Bryden Elementary School in Beachwood now have access to a new book vending machine, courtesy of the Beachwood Schools Foundation through the Above and Beyond program.

An official ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Oct. 7 at the school, with comments from principal Arianna DeGeorge. The Above and Beyond program raises money to enhance educational programming throughout the district.

"We first and foremost want to thank the Beachwood Schools Foundation for their incredible, generous donation of the Bryden book vending machine," DeGeorge said at the event, the release stated.

According to the release, each student will have an opportunity to select a free book from the machine by earning tokens for showing kindness to others. The initiative is tied to the school's character education, which is based on the book, "Have You Filled a Bucket Today," by Carol McCloud.

"We are all bucket fillers in this school," reading teacher Michelle Mayer said during the ceremony, according to the release. "We all look out for each other, we are kind, and we make sure everybody's doing OK."

With the Beachwood PTO, the foundation also purchased the books for the vending machine.

"We wanted to do something really special for the kids at Bryden," Beachwood Schools Foundation vice president Shana Wallenstein said at the event, the release stated.

Other city officials in attendance included Beachwood Mayor Justin Berns, councilwoman Danielle Shoykhet and councilman Joshua Mintz, along with members of the Beachwood Schools Foundation, Beachwood Board of Education and Beachwood PTO.

"I'm sure all the kids who are older than you wish they had a machine like this to get books from," Berns said to the students, according to the release.

Superintendent Robert P. Hardis said, "For us, there is probably no more important job that we have in school than to make sure a love and joy of reading is inspired very early on with our youngest students. This vending machine is the perfect tool for us to do that."