But, then again, I've never had to decide between books and food. Or new shoes for school.
Reach Out and Read knows too many families have to make hard decisions like these, which means that many young kids don't have books to be read to them at bedtime, or to flip through on their own. So, in conjunction with United We Serve, Reach Out and Read is working to get a million books into the hands of kids by Labor Day. And you can help them get there.
Reach Out and Read's Summer of a Million Books is an ambitious campaign to get beginner books to needy kids across the United States. A non-profit organization that promotes early literacy as a way to give kids a head start in school, Reach Out and Read collaborates with a network of pediatricians who hand out the books to their patients. These pediatricians talk to parents about the importance of reading to their kids when they are young, which seems like a really smart idea to us.
And the kids? Get a brand new book to keep. Considering how many cherished books I still have from my childhood, I imagine that these new books that they get to keep are just as important to them. -Christina
To help Reach Out and Read make this a Summer of a Million Books, you can either purchase a single title for as little as $5, or sponsor a child's full five-year enrollment in the program, with a total of 10 new titles given to them over the years. So far, they are more than two-thirds to their goal, but with summer quickly fading, the need for more support is growing more urgent.
