SCV Education Foundation gives books to Placerita students  (2025)

Nearly a hundred Placerita Junior High School students Tuesday morning were surprised with new books from the Santa Clarita Valley Education Foundation.

Placerita Principal John Turner said he made an announcement on the overhead speakers reminding teachers to let the selected students go to the library, and that’s when the frenzy began.

“They all came in at one time, probably about 100 students. We were able to give away over 200 books today and their faces lit up like it was a carnival,” said Joe Satorhelyi, SCV Education Foundation executive director.

Satorhelyi said the foundation works with the school district librarian and English-subject staff members to identify which students would be selected for this opportunity. The foundation was looking to promote literacy and hopefully inspire the students to develop their love of reading.

He added that the foundation does surveys following the event and last year they discovered that 47% of students reported they owned zero to four books at home.

“If we can even just inspire a handful (of students) to really get that love for reading then that’s the gold,” said Satorhelyi.

This year, Satorhelyi said, with grants provided by L.A. County 5^th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger and Santa Clarita Elks Lodge 2039, they were able to offer more books to the students.

He said that they host this event at La Mesa Junior High, Sierra Vista Junior High as well as Placerita. This year, the foundation was able to give away about 200 books at each school, and each student got the chance to pick out two free books.

Wayne Edwards, exalted ruler of Elks Lodge 2039, and his wife Linda Edwards said they were able to donate $2,000 through a spotlight grant from the Elks National Foundation.

Wayne Edwards said it was important to the lodge to be involved in helping out the younger generation because they recognized they were where the future lies.

“So many nowadays are behind because we’re fighting with TV, we’re fighting the screens,” said Linda Edwards. “You can enjoy reading and it’s not a chore.”

They both added that it was wonderful to see how excited the students were to find out they could take the books and hoped they were sparking a passion to read.

Wayne Edwards said, “It’s pretty exciting to see kids fired up about that, it really is. They came in and they went around, and we told them you get two books. They enjoyed it, watching their faces as they came in and then realized.”