Kent City — Approximately 200 kids in Kent City have a new book to add to their personal libraries, thanks to a giveaway honoring the life and legacy of a former Kent City Elementary teacher.
Amy Iwaniw, who died this summer following a battle with cancer, taught kindergarten, first and third grade at KCE for more than 30 years prior to her retirement a decade ago. Following her death, the family received memorial donations in her name specifically to buy books for children — both titles that Iwaniw loved and also sports-related books to honor her husband, Greg, a Kent City football coach.
For the district’s Youth Football Night this fall, Iwaniw’s friends and former colleagues came together to organize the book giveaway, which they dubbed “Iwaniw Read” as a play on her surname sounding like the words “want to.” With roughly 200 titles on hand, they offered a free book to every child in attendance at the game and were left with just nine at the end of the night.
“Amy just really valued reading to children; she taught those early grades and reading was so important to her,” said Karen Swanson, a KCE second-grade teacher and former colleague of Iwaniw’s who helped coordinate the event. “She had a great relationship with her former students — she’d see people at football games and everyone knew her. … Five hundred people came to her (memorial) service.
“We thought this was the best place for (the giveaway).”
The event was also a good way to promote literacy in the community and show families the importance of reading, Swanson said. Many in attendance were Iwaniw’s former students, some with children of their own who got to pick out a book.
“It was really cool to see how much the kids were excited and thoughtful about which books they were going to choose,” she said. “It was very inspiring and I felt like we were carrying on Amy’s legacy as a teacher.”
Swanson was encouraged by what she called the “huge interest” in the giveaway. She said she and her colleagues might even try to solicit funds for books again next year and continue to carry that legacy forward.
“Amy was a dreamer,” she said. “She would have loved this.”
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