CLUB STARTS ITS DRIVE TO BUY LIBRARY BOOKS.

Byline: Krystn Shrieve Staff Writer

CAMARILLO - The Camarillo Women's Club has launched a campaign to raise money to buy 2,000 new books for school libraries in the Pleasant Valley School District.

Club President Jeanne Bendot said her group is one of many chapters throughout the nation trying to beef up the selection available at all libraries.

``We like to encourage young people in any way we can,'' Bendot said. ``We have a lot of retired schoolteachers in our group, so we felt we should help the libraries in our local schools.''

Many of the group's efforts are meant to help students. The women's club offers scholarships, donates to Friends of the Library, and has members who volunteer as readers in various classrooms.

``We feel we should work with our young people,'' Bendot said. ``Especially after seeing all the bad things happening to children in the news.''

Bendot was one of the first female coaches of girls' soccer in the area and also worked as a health clerk at a middle school where, for a short time, she substituted as the librarian.

``Children have a special place in my heart,'' Bendot said. ``And the books are something the school district needs. They're getting a bunch of hard-bound classics. Every child should have access to the classics.''

Rose Holk, who helped found the group in 1963, said the club recently hosted a card party that raised $615 for the book campaign.

``The reason we're raising the money is to get children interested in reading,'' Holk said. ``Reading is the basis of all education.''

TO MAKE A DONATION, send a check made out to the PVSD Library to the Pleasant Valley School District Library, 600 Temple Ave., Camarillo 93010. For information, call [phone].