The Quilts to Books project began in 2005 after students at Cypress Ridge Elementary began studying about hurricanes and tracking several storms, including Hurricane Katrina.  The students decided they wanted to make a difference for their fellow students whose lives were affected by the devastating hurricane. Throughout the 2005-2006 school year, Mrs. Star Olson and Mrs. Kellyann Goring guided the students with their service learning project to raise money to purchase new books for a teacher in Mississippi who lost her classroom to Hurricane Katrina.

Thirteen years later, Cypress Ridge Elementary’s Quilts to Books Leadership Club is still designing quilt squares around a chosen theme. The squares are sewn together to make the colorful, handmade quilts which are raffled off at the annual Celebration of Learning, an annual end of school event.  The successful event was recently held at CRES and the money raised at the raffle will be used to buy books for a school in Panama City devastated by Hurricane Michael.

CRES Quilts to Books Leadership Club attended a recent City of Clermont Council meeting to showcase some of the quilts.