SPOTLIGHT Cameron’s Amazing Book Club : Book club keeps the spark glowing
Posted on Sunday, January 6, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Northwest_Profiles/212931/
FAYETTEVILLE — A mother holds her young children’s hands when they cross the street. She shepherds them in the safe orbit around her.
But when a mother doesn’t have a grasp on a little girl’s hand, that’s when fate comes and accidents happen.
Cameron Averitt Bobbitt had blue eyes, blond hair and a petite gymnast’s figure. Her parents, Susan Averitt Bobbitt and Derrick Bobbitt, say she was happy, friendly and empathetic toward others.
Her parents read to her in the womb and played classical music. They continued reading to her, and she knew her ABCs — verbally and in sign language — by the time she was 3. One of her favorite books was Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. She also recited The Lord’s Prayer in front of the family’s church congregation.
But Cameron wasn’t here that long. She died when she was 5.
On the morning of Jan. 19, 2006, as her mom took her to school in McAlester, Okla., they parked across the street from the school, as usual. They walked into the crosswalk, where there were never any crossing guards.
An elderly man drove toward that crosswalk, at maybe 20 mph, and never stopped. He didn’t slow down, even after he hit Cameron. Someone had to flag him down.
Susan saw the man slowly approaching the crosswalk and assumed he’d stop. That morning, she walked with Cameron and her daughter, Kennedy, who was 4 and in preschool. Normally, she held their hands, one daughter connected to each arm.
But that morning, she also had Brooklynn, who was 15 months old and had been sick for several days. Susan, a pediatrician, was going to take the baby to her office and run some tests on her after dropping Cameron and Kennedy off at school.
When Susan realized the man wasn’t stopping, she stepped back, feeling the breeze of the car’s mirror on her body, and pulled Kennedy back with her right hand. But she was holding Brooklynn, not Cameron’s hand, and Cameron kept walking.
Susan can’t stop thinking about the “what ifs,” wondering how things could have turned out differently. Derrick gently reminds her it was a “freak accident,” with no rhyme or reason.
Susan, who lived in Little Rock, and Derrick, who lived in North Little Rock, met through friends and dated for seven years before marrying 12 years ago. Cameron was conceived through in vitro fertilization and born May 13, 2000.
“She was just really an amazing person,” Susan says. “She was pretty much a natural at anything she tried to do.”
“There was something about her that was just special,” Derrick says. After Cameron’s death, they moved to Rogers to be closer to Susan’s mom. Susan was trying to fulfill her three-year contract at her job in McAlester, and it took a while to fi nd another job. They eventually moved to Fayetteville in August 2006. They conceived their fourth daughter, 10-month-old Carington Hope, after Cameron’s death. Her older sisters, Kennedy and Brooklynn, are now 6 and 3. Derrick has been a stay-at-home dad for seven years.
BIRTH OF BOOK CLUB Susan’s mother, a reading specialist at Bonnie Grimes Elementary School in Rogers, and her sister-in-law decided to do something in Cameron’s memory for Christmas 2006. They spread the word and collected about 200 books to be used in the children’s clinic where Susan works, Willow Creek Women’s Hospital. They piled them in the Bobbitts’ living room and surprised them.
The books were labeled with the names and locations of donors — some were from Louisiana and California.
The Bobbitts were overwhelmed with this idea and wanted to see if they could do something more, beyond the clinic. And Cameron’s Amazing Book Club was born.
Last January, on the anniversary of Cameron’s death, they made their first disbursement of books, mailing some and delivering others. Books went to Cameron and Kennedy’s old school in McAlester; to the hospital and clinic; to Kennedy’s current school, Butterfield Trail Elementary School; the day-care program Brooklynn attends at Central United Methodist Church in Fayetteville; Susan’s mom’s school; and Central United Methodist Church in Rogers, where Susan’s dad is senior pastor.
They distributed between five and 10 books to 14 locations. The Bobbitts also included a letter with the books, explaining the creation of the book club and instructions on how to donate books.
Last spring, they started a Web site, www. camerons amazingbooks. com. In May, Derrick mailed a letter to about 200 people seeking more books. Some children have collected books at their birthday parties instead of getting presents.
In December, the book club held another book drive, with collection baskets set up at various locations, and received more than 200 books. Book titles donated include Goodnight Moon, The Poky Little Puppy, Stella the Star and The Five Chinese Brothers.
Most benefactors know the Bobbitts or have a connection to them. The couple estimate they’ve distributed about 500 books.
“It gives people who don’t know what to do, and want to do something, to help us and make a difference in Cameron’s name,” Susan says.
Derrick is focusing on women’s and children’s shelters, and has contacted many of them to see if they need books. The couple don’t want to send books where they’re not needed.
The Bobbitts like checking their post office box for the letters from people explaining how they’ve put the books to use.
“It puts a smile on our faces and makes it all worthwhile,” Derrick says.
To get a book, click the “request books” button on the Web site.
Susan also put out forms at her clinic — in English and Spanish — for people to request books.
“I see a lot of patients at the clinic who just don’t have much at all,” Susan says.
The couple want to encourage early reading and literacy. The books are tangible gifts that people can give.
“The books allow people to make a personal decision about which book they’re going to buy,” she says.
The couple also established a memorial fund, an endowment that recently reached $ 10, 000. Interest from that fund, managed through the Fayetteville Community Foundation, will be given to charities that support children and families.
“Cameron’s life was too short,” Susan says. “But she did make a big difference in our lives and in the lives of people who knew her. And we want to keep that spark alive.” More information on Cameron’s Amazing Book Club is available by contacting Susan Averitt Bobbitt and Derrick Bobbitt through the Web site at www. cameronsamazingbooks. com