- Some new vending machines are coming to East Lansing schools, but they won't have snacks inside.
- As part of their signature project, the Kiwanis Club of East Lansing is working to put up to seven book vending machines in East Lansing's Elementary and Middle Schools over the next three years.
- The video above shows East Lansing Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Glenn Mitcham and Kiwanis Club Vice President Diane Tubbs explaining the importance of the vending machines.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
I'm your East Lansing Neighborhood Reporter Colin Jankowski. New vending machines are coming to one district in our neighborhoods, but you won't find snacks inside.
"As we looked into it, there really was just no downside," East Lansing Public Schools Assistant Superintended Glenn Mitcham said.
As part of their signature project, the Kiwanis Club of East Lansing is working to bring up to seven book vending machines to East Lansing's Elementary and Middle Schools over the next three years.
"It just checks all the boxes of what we want to do in East Lansing," Mitcham said. "It continues to build on our culture of reading in our schools."
The plan is for students to earn tokens by completing classroom goals, and use those tokens to buy the books from the vending machines. The hope is that it becomes a fun way to encourage kids to read.
"For kids to be able to have a book that is theirs that they can take home with them to always have it at home, and then just build that culture of reading in our buildings where everywhere you look there's things to read, the book vending machines are just a perfect fit for that," Mitcham said.
But it's not an easy project to put together. Diane Tubbs, Vice President of the Kiwanis Club of East Lansing, says each matching costs $7 thousand, with another $2,500 going toward the books, bringing the total cost of all seven machines to nearly $70 thousand.
"I think it has to be a community effort, though, for fundraising," Diane said. "We have a lot of folks in this community that have kids in the schools, so any little bit helps."
Diane says the first book vending machine has been ordered, and they hope to have it in place at Donley Elementary by the end of February.
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