SCDMV Recognized for “My First Library” Community Service Project

November 06, 2024

The South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles has won international recognition for its community service book drive to help children across the state.
 
The “My First Library” book drive, a partnership between SCDMV and the nonprofit Original Six Foundation, has won the International and Regional Community Service award from the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, which represents state, provincial, and territorial officials in the United States and Canada who administer and enforce motor vehicle laws.

“This award is a great recognition of the community service focus that our SCDMV employees show in their work every day,” said Kevin Shwedo, executive director of the SCDMV.

“Everyone at SCDMV should be proud of this award, but especially of how our efforts brought books to children in South Carolina’s neediest communities,” Shwedo said.
 
The International recognition was awarded during the AAMVA International Conference held September 24-26 in Atlanta.
 
The “My First Library” campaign installed collection boxes to all 66 branch offices so customers could donate books for early readers in the spring of 2024. Flyers also encouraged customers to use their phones to donate, which helped provide even more books to the Original Six Foundation.

Many branch office staffs decorated their donation boxes and offices, transforming their locations into whimsical realms of imagination inspired by their favorite childhood books.

Thousands of books were donated, allowing the Original Six Foundation to provide each kindergarten student in the most underserved communities of the state with 10 new, grade-level, summer reading books at an end-of-the-school-year book fair.

The Original Six Foundation distributed over 30,000 books to more than 3,000 students in 38 schools through the 2024 My First Library program, Original Six Foundation Executive Director Kara Gormley Meador said.  
“We simply would not have been able to reach that many kids without the incredible support from the SCDMV team!” Gormley Meador said. 

These book fairs let students take books home to keep, encouraging reading during the summer months. Reading at home during the summer allows students to improve their reading skills during a time when otherwise they might lose ground.

The Original Six Foundation was founded in 2011 with a mission focused on literacy initiatives in rural and underserved areas of the state. It serves as a funding mechanism to assist South Carolina’s neediest communities in providing education and learning opportunities to schools and students facing economic challenges.