St. Mark’s Student Surpasses Personal Book Drive Goal

Arjun Poi, a senior at St. Mark’s School of Texas, offered an array of light for special needs children by delivering books he collected through a book drive.

He did so by working with Rays of Light.

The nonprofit provides parents of children with special needs four hours of respite on the first three Fridays of the month (excluding January and July) and invites children with special needs and their siblings to the Night Lights program held at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church. 

While pursuing the rank of Eagle Scout, Arjun volunteered as a buddy paired one-on-one with a child at the Night Lights program. Buddies accompany their assigned children to play games, watch a movie, visit the computer lab, and read books.

When he reached out to program director Debbie Solomon to discuss his idea of conducting a book drive to benefit the children at Rays of Light, she jumped at the idea. 

Arjun secured approval from his District Council and moved forward with his collection efforts — his initial goal set at collecting 250 books. But with help from his troop, friends, and Half-Price Books, Arjun far exceeded his goal, collecting more than 1,100 books. “I did not expect to exceed over four times my goal,” Arjun said.

The donation of books came at a perfect time. Rays of Light was taking a mid-summer break, and the many books provided the children with an activity and educational materials. 

Rays of Light offers its programs free of charge to families of children with special needs, relying heavily on the efforts and dedication of its volunteers.

“Arjun Poi is a dedicated … volunteer who gives freely of his time to help provide respite to the parents of special needs children and their siblings in our program each month,” Solomon said. “We are so grateful to Arjun for his hard work, support and service to our special families.”