After weeks of planning and getting the word out there 4GOOD had a very successful Book Drive. Thank you to all the people who showed up on a Sunday to donate books!
- THE GRAND TOTAL OF BOOKS DONATED WAS 1,503. AMAZING!!!
- All the books were donated to BookEnds, a wonderful organization who graciously came to pick up the many boxes on a Sunday when that is not something they normally do. Thank you Breanne!!!
- The Older Teen and Adult books that were donated will be going to the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Summer Night Lights Program- which provides at-risk youths with organized activities aimed at keeping them out of trouble during the summer. Reading is certainly a great activity!!!
- The Younger books that were donated will be going to WIC (women, infant & children). This is a government program that provides assitant to low income families.
A Special "Thank you" to everyone who showed up to volunteer to help us sort & organize the books- we couldn't have done it without you!When 4GOOD member Michael Swords brought an article from Parenting Magazine to our attention, we felt inspired to do something to help raise awareness of the startling literacy gap between low & middle income American Families...so the idea of a one day book drive was born.
Read the article that inspired this event.
www.parenting.com/article/Child/Daycare--Education/The-Early-Literacy-Crisis/2
Sweet Harts in Sherman Oaks partnered with us, giving us a home to hold the event. A big Thanks to Aidan and the rest of the gang at Sweet Harts who came in early on a Sunday! Anyone who came and donated books was given 10% off their purchase of Frozen Yogurt or Gelato. Sweet Harts also gave back 20% of the sale proceeds for the day back to 4GOOD. What a Sweet Deal! Thanks again!
Why is it so important to get involved in bridging the literacy gap?
Here are some startling statistics that inspired us to get involved. It's yet another way to get your children engaged in giving back, especially if explained to them on their level.
* 37% of American Children live in low-income families and 61% of those families have NO age appropriate books in their homes. Some kids go to pre-school and have never held a book. Can you imagine your 3 year old never being read too or exposed to even looking at a book?
* These kids can't even count on school to get exposed to reading and books...80% of preschools and after-school programs serving low-income populations have no age-appropriate books for their children.
* On average a child from a middle class community has 13 books & a child from a low-income community shares one book with 300 other kids.
* Access to books and educational material is the single biggest barrier to literacy development in the United States and beyond. If we can solve the problem of access, we will be well on the road to realizing educational parity – a goal which has eluded this country for generations.”-
Susan B. Neuman, Ph.D. University of Michigan, Ctr. for Improvement of Early Reading Achievement
We donated the books to a wonderful organization called BOOKENDS...here is why we chose them:
* BookEnds, a non-profit organization, that began in 1993 with
8-year-old Brandon Keefe, a kid who wanted to make a difference.* BookEnds strives to instill the value of community service in its student volunteers. More than 206,000 youth have been involved in organizing book drives, collecting, sorting and delivering more than 1.9 million books into the hands of 478,000 children in the greatest need of books.
* BookEnds has completed more than 578 libraries. (More than 478,000 students are benefiting from the book donations.)
* BookEnds' recipients are those schools that are the most in need and have demonstrated a commitment to actively use the book donations to improve children's literacy.
Check them out at www,bookends.org
Some pictures from the day- Thank you to all who came and volunteered!!!
