Adopt a Book Box

The last quarter was an incredibly busy time for Kids Need to Read, with inventory, a major fundraiser and many school visits in The Page Coach! Despite this buzz of activities, we sent out books to seventeen recipients in thirteen states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington. These donations are made possible by you, our generous Adopt a Book Box contributors, as well as other supporters and book donors. We have now used all of the funds raised by this campaign so far and thank you most sincerely!

Enjoy learning about the children Kids Need to Read has assisted since our last update:

* Arizona PBS Educational Outreach (AZ) requested books for their event, a screening of A Wrinkle in Time. The educational outreach “currently only has grant funding to provide books to families with children birth to age 5,” and relies on additional grants for older children and higher grade levels. Said their Digital Marketing Coordinator, “We want to inspire local youth to dream. We want to empower local youth to become exceptional leaders. We want local youth to see the benefits of serving as a positive light in the darkness.”

* Read On Chandler (AZ) had a goal to distribute 750 new books at their yearly Literacy Block party. They hosted fun family activities, all advocating literacy. According to the volunteer who reached out to us, “when they complete the activities at each, they are given a free book (plus literacy tips) to take home and hopefully, replicate the activities at home.” Read on Chandler works with children living in high poverty areas with low literacy levels.

* Hoopa Valley High School (CA) is a rural high school located on the Hoopa Valley reservation, where all the students qualify for free lunch. The school librarian requested books because the “school library was closed for remodeling two years ago when black mold was discovered in the building and it has just reopened. We lost a lot of books to the hazards of storage and are trying to refill our shelves.” Donated books went toward replacing those that were lost to the mold.

* DSST: GVR High School (CO) is a charter school in Denver. One of the senior students wanted to start a school library for her school project stating, “…the aim is to allow students and staff to have access to books that will expand their minds and reading skills.… Each senior is assigned to come up with a senior project and I feel the importance of enjoying a book has been overseen when students are only given a task to read for a credit in their classes.” Kids Need to Read was happy to help jump-start the school’s new library.

* Flora High School (IL) did not have a library for eleven years and just recently reopened. The librarian is also the head of the school’s book club and requested sets of the same title for the students to read and discuss. She is also working on increasing and improving programs for the library. As she stated on her application, “I have implemented an optional rewards reading program with our state's awards lists, and interest in the library is high. I feel that with more reading material, our test scores can only improve because the students are wanting to read on their own.”

* Bridge Ministries of Acadiana (LA) works with an extremely high risk population, where “28% of the people have a high school diploma with 8% having a college degree. The average household income is less than $18,800 per year and the population 16 years or older not in the workforce is 52%. Our academic assessment concluded that in 2016, 63% of our youth were functioning below grade level primarily due to reading and math skills.” Books were sent for their tutoring and after school program, where they will be used to help increase skills and a love of reading.

* Pineville Elementary School (LA) is a public school that needed more books for their library, as many are old, or have been damaged or lost over the years. The poverty rate is at 92%, and “out of the 50 schools in our district, Pineville Elementary has the highest homeless population.” According to the principal, “Although we serve a disadvantaged population, the teachers at our school care deeply for our students and the community. Many parents and grandparents try to attend school functions, such as our Family Reading Night because it is convenient for many of the families to walk to the school or catch the city bus.” Kids Need to Read sent books to help them increase their library offerings.

* Montpelier Elementary School (MD) is a public school that needed new books for their recently revamped library. Said one PTO member, “We were recently awarded a grant last year to get all new shelving and decorate the library but we still have books from the 1950's and 60's in circulation.” They were provided with new, more relevant titles to help update their library.

See Part 2 to read about the remaining recipients!