On behalf of Mark P. Waterman Lodge #177 of Free and Accepted Masons, I would like to thank our neighbors on Vashon for their generous support of our 2011 public school library fundraising campaign. Over five Saturdays this summer, we raised $3,000 to contribute to the Becky Braicks fund established to purchase critically needed books and resources for our children’s libraries.

Becky Braicks was a neighbor in our community who volunteered in our school libraries for over 15 years. Upon her passing, the Braicks family established a fund to continue her legacy. The principal of the fund has been depleted over the years, and the Freemasons selected it as the focus of our community service in 2011.

As a result of state budget cuts, Chautauqua Elementary School does not employ a certified librarian. State law requires that a certified librarian be present for a classroom-sized number of students to be in a library. The presence of a volunteer does not satisfy this requirement.

Vashon’s school libraries do not have the resources to update their history and social science databases. Nor can they purchase adequate electronic readers to meet student demand. The electronic readers make core books available to a wide number of students. In fact, the library program is in dire need of professional computer research skills.

The school libraries do not have the resources to purchase any new fiction for their collections. Art collections are stagnant. In this time of historic social and political change, our school libraries are frozen. By virtue of the generosity of our community, we have taken a small step toward preserving this critical aspect of our children’s education.

In 2011 Congress denied funding for the decade-old Improving Literacy Through School Libraries (ILTSL) program. Yet the Department of Education has linked student performance on state reading tests to the availability of the ILTSL program.

It is unthinkable that our children’s libraries have been so severely underfunded, even in the context of our national economic crisis. Statistics demonstrate that children who are exposed to robust library programs by the third grade have a greater likelihood of attending college. Library use has been linked to improved standardized test scores.

Beyond these compelling metrics, is there any persuasive argument that our children’s lives should be constrained for want of access to a rich literary resource?

I would like to thank the management at Thriftway for allowing us to set up our booth at the entrance to their store. That location was key to reaching our fund raising goals.

I would also like to acknowledge that many of the contributions came from our neighbors with limited means. Senior citizens on fixed income, students and other neighbors for whom every dollar counts recognized the need to support our libraries. In fact, the overwhelming majority of donations were given in small amounts.

Finally, I would like to thank Super-intendent Michael Soltman and librarians Julie Jaffe and Peggy Kallsen for their support of our program. These fine people are working overtime to fill in the gaps left by funding cuts.

— Chip Lamason is master of the Mark P. Waterman Lodge on Vashon.