The RCW steering committee sent a letter to Winfrey last week, inviting her to join in the celebration of Tifton’s reaching 1,000,000 Accelerated Reader points, the most earned anywhere.  The RCW celebration is planned at noon Nov. 15 at the Tift County Stadium.

     Because of Winfrey’s interest in books and reading, the organizers hope she may be able to come to South Georgia.  But they’re not leaving it at that.

     “We’re asking everyone in Tifton to write a letter to Oprah Winfrey, inviting her to come to the big celebration, “ said Beck Mann Tuesday.

     “We want all of the children in school to write letters, and if they’re too little and can’t write they can draw a picture.”

     Mann said there will be a drop-off box for letters at the Tifton-Tift County Public Library, and volunteers will go to all of the schools Monday with a wheelbarrow.

      “I think we’re going to get a really good response from all the schools,” Tift County Foundation for Educational Excellence Director Mike Brumby said.  He said the foundation is trying to arrange for a UPS truck to pick up the letters and will have someone helping readers write letters during adult AR testing, from 5 to 8pm Thursday at  the public library.

     Another option would be e-mailing Winfrey at www.oprah.com.

     Tift County school children have been taking AR tests over approved books for the last four years, and local adults have joined in for the past two summers.  As of Monday, the total of points earned was 968,365, a gain of more than 10,000 from the week before.