    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 35 (Monday, September 4, 2006)]
    [Page 1520]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks in a Discussion on the Gulf Coast School Library Recovery
    Initiative in New Orleans, Louisiana

    August 29, 2006

        The President. Laura and I want to thank the educators and students
    who have taken time to come over and help us make the point that renewal
    requires good education, and that there are a lot of good folks up and
    down the gulf coast who understand that, and that part of good education
    means having good books and strong libraries.
        And so I'm going to turn it over to the person who's the strong,
    good library person in our family.
        The First Lady. Well, I'm so excited today to get to see each one of
    you. I had a foundation already for school libraries, and we were just
    getting ready to disband the fundraising arm of that, the advisory
    committee, last year, last October. And when we met for our last
    meeting, they said, ``Let's keep going; let's raise money now
    specifically for the gulf coast and try to raise enough money so that if
    every school comes up and is functional again and is staffed, that they
    can apply for a grant for--to stock their library.''
        And it's been a thrill to be associated with school people. I know
    how school people work. You're first-responders, just like firemen and
    policemen. You know you've got to get your schools up and going
    immediately. And I want to thank you for your determination and your
    very hard work, because I know that many of the people on every school
    staff who rebuilt their schools are also having to rebuild their own
    lives. They lost their own houses, or they are living in FEMA trailers.
    And so they're doing double work, and I want to thank you very, very
    much for that.
        This is the second round of grants that we're announcing today--we
    gave 10 schools, 7 in Louisiana and 3 in Mississippi, earlier this
    summer. And this is our second round of grants to 10 more schools, once
    again 7 in Louisiana and 3 in Mississippi.
        These grants, for the press, might want to know that these are for
    materials to restock a school library. They come in the form of a check
    because we know that school librarians want to build their library the
    way that it will support their curriculum and be most appropriate and
    perfect for their schoolchildren. So this is not--this is not a book
    distribution; this is a check to these schools so they can do what all
    professional librarians want to do, and that is restock their libraries
    with the best books possible, including the course books that are
    especially bound for libraries so they can get a lot of use.
        So I'm so excited to be here with all of you. I especially want to
    thank four foundations which have been very, very generous with the
    second round of grants. The AT&T Foundation, Conoco/Philips, Target, and
    Enterprise Corporation have been very generous so that we can continue
    to give grants across the gulf coast. And I want to thank them, their
    representatives of their corporations here. Thank you all very much for
    that.
        And I also want to thank Marshall Payne out of Dallas, who's the
    chairman of the Gulf Coast Recovery Initiative. He's back here--and Pam
    Willeford, who's our director.
        So, Pam, I believe we'll take it over to you next.

    [At this point, the public portion of the event concluded; however, the
    discussion continued, and no transcript was provided.]

    Note: The President spoke at 11:04 a.m. at Warren Easton Senior High
    School. The First Lady referred to Marshall B. Payne, chairman, Gulf
    Coast School Library Recovery Initiative; and Pamela P. Willeford,
    chair, advisory committee, Laura Bush Foundation for America's
    Libraries. A tape was not available for verification of the content of
    these remarks.