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Skriven 2006-03-08 23:33:06 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0603082) for Wed, 2006 Mar 8
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Mrs. Bush's Remarks on the Gulf Coast School Library Recovery Initiative in
Louisiana
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For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
March 8, 2006

Mrs. Bush's Remarks on the Gulf Coast School Library Recovery Initiative in
Louisiana
Industrial Levee Canal
New Orleans, Louisiana




Thanks a lot. I want to talk about schools just briefly, and particularly
about school libraries. In July 2001, I founded a foundation, the Laura
Bush Foundation for America's Libraries. The foundation is a private
organization that provides grants to school libraries to expand their book
collections. Over the last four years, the foundation has awarded 428
grants totaling more than $2 million in 49 states.

In September of last year, the leadership group -- the leadership council
of the Laura Bush Foundation met for what was going to be our very last
meeting. We had raised the money we wanted to raise for the foundation and
we were going to disperse our leadership council. And instead, everyone
unanimously wanted to continue to work to raise a specific amount of money
for Gulf Coast libraries.

We've established a special fund to help the schools in the Gulf Coast
region. The Gulf Coast School Library Recovery Initiative is the name of
it. The initiative will help Gulf Coast schools that were damaged by the
hurricanes rebuild their book and material collections. And the task is
very large. According to the U.S. Department of Education, 1,121 public and
private schools in the Gulf Coast region were damaged or destroyed.

The basic initial cost of building a book collection for an elementary
school library is $50,000. And the cost for a secondary school library is
at least $100,000. So the Laura Bush Foundation website, which everyone can
go to -- laurabushfoundation.org -- has a simple application that schools
can use to apply for funds. Again, the website is laurabushfoundation.org.

The foundation already uses a competitive grant process to distribute
annual grants, and will use the same process for the Gulf Coast funds. Some
schools should receive awards by late April or early May. Additional grants
will be distributed throughout the year as more schools are rebuilt and
ready to stock their libraries.

The Laura Bush Foundation will continue to provide its annual grants to
schools throughout the United States. And you can find the details about
those grants on the website. But these special grants for the Gulf Coast
rebuilding are for schools that were damaged or destroyed by the hurricanes
and want to rebuild their library collections.

We all know that schools are at the center of every child's life, and the
routine of going to school gives children a sense of comfort that's more
important than ever for boys and girls who've endured trauma. The sooner
children are back in their own school, the happier and healthier they'll
be.

So I want to thank everyone who is working hard to help the Gulf Coast
recover. I urge all the Gulf Coast schools that are rebuilding to go to the
laurabushfoundation.org website and apply for a grant for your school
library.

Thanks everybody. (Applause.)

Click here for full transcript

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