Florida woman's touring bus brings free books, eyeglasses to Detroit kids

[demmiblue]

Source: Detroit Free Press


<snip>

"I got to that point and there was still a hole in my soul," she said.

So in 2002, the Florida resident decided to cash in her retirement savings to get behind something she was passionate about -- books.

Frances bought a Volkswagen bus, filled it with books, affectionately named it Bess the Book Bus (inspired by her grandmother) and traveled around her Tampa community, handing out storybook after storybook to underprivileged children.

<snip>

"I want kids to feel that sense of being transported somewhere away from their current environment, because a lot of our kids' day-to-day is not that bright and shiny," said Frances, 40.

Bess the Book Bus visited Detroit this week as part of the 2011 Success is in Sight national tour. On the road trip, Frances plans to hand out more than 100,000 books to 20,000 children in 44 states. Tour partners Transitions Optical and VSP Vision Care also will provide free eye exams and glasses along the way.

http://www.freep.com/article/20110609/NEWS05/106090426/Florida-woman-s-touring-bus-brings-free-books-eyeglasses-Detroit-kids

[jorno67]

1. This is a worth while use of a bus - unlike Sassy Sarah's magical mystery tour

with security provided by the US tax payers...

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. So many children need glasses and don't know it.

I was one of them.

I was reading at age three. I was always with a book, and my nose stuck into it.
She finally took me to an eye doctor in the second grade. Found out I was extremely nearsighted.

Lots of kids need glasses and their stupid parents think they are faking it, or say "oh, he can see" when they really don't know WTF they are talking about. Schools ignore this problem.

Some nurse had a light box with Es on it and you were supposed to point at them. I sat about ten feet away and kept saying "I can't see that. I can't see that. I can't see that. I can't see that. I can't see that..." on and on.

The old bag never heard me. I have no idea what she wrote down on my form. That so-called "screening" did me no good.