News 12 at 6 o'clock
June 4, 2008

AUGUSTA, Ga--- In this electronic age of emails and downloaded books, where does the school library fit in?

Our Time To Care About Education award winner for June is Betty Armando, a woman who volunteers at Curtis Baptist school. We found Betty doing what she loves most, reading to a class at Curtis Baptist Baptist school.

"Ok, we're gonna read 'lost beneath Manhattan' by Sig Brower..." Betty announced to the students. In an age of high speed internet and instant messaging, it may seem a little old fashioned.

But Betty still believes when you open a book, you learn something. Betty learned something too- when you volunteer, even a little of your time, you run the risk of falling in love.

She started with just a few minutes a day. "With 15 minutes..." she says, "in a library watching kids while the teachers were praying."

Maybe they were praying for a volunteer like Betty. Because somewhere along the line,15 minutes turned into much more.

Debbie Lancaster teaches math at Curtis.
"Well, she's always here. Her car is in the parking lot before I get here."

Debbie says Betty is always on the prowl for a good book. "She's even been known to go on vacation- find books and bring them back to the library she is so excited about the children reading."

Betty says it's all true. "I go everywhere anywhere. If there's a yard sale to be found the first thing I go for is the books."

Betty's a bit of a perfectionist too. If she's in the library everything's going to be in place.

I couldn't resist putting her to the test, pointing to a section of books behind her.

"Actually, I see a problem back here in this section."
"Which one?"
"I'm not going to tell you. You have to find it."
It took Betty about a split second to announce her findings. "The ribbon is hanging off the edge."

We had a good laugh about her addiction. Betty is so crazy about books, even her husband seems to notice.

"My husband thinks I spend too much time on books", Betty said, "but that's ok"

Speaking of her husband, Betty didn't even tell him she won our award. She wanted News 12 to surprise him with this story. So John, thanks for sharing Betty with the kids at Curtis for the past 17 years.

News 12 would like to thank the sponsors for making this possible.
Aiken Regional Medical Centers
Ashley Furniture
The Taylor Auto Group

If you would like to nominate someone for our Time To Care About Education award, you can do that on this website.