(WXYZ) — One book can change the story of a child's life, and you have a chance to help make a difference in our community today.
The "If You Give A Child A Book" campaign is now underway, and we're so excited to help inspire reading by giving new books to local children across metro Detroit!
HELP GIVE A CHILD A BOOK BY CLICKING HERE
Employees at WXYZ-TV and TV20 Detroit, along with the Scripps Howard Fund, have made it their mission to get high-quality books to children in our community through the "If You Give A Child A Book" campaign. The Scripps Howard Fund is matching donations on Tuesday up to $175,000. A special thanks to our other matching donors throughout the day Tuesday: Trion Solutions, Giroux Pappas Trial Attorneys, and Arnold Reed Law.
Last year alone, the employees at WXYZ/WMYD, the community, businesses and the Scripps Howard Fund helped provide kids in metro Detroit over 20,000 new books.
One of the greatest predictors of a child’s success is books in the home. The literacy forecast for America’s children is sobering. According to the 2019 study by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 25 million children in the U.S. cannot read proficiently.
HELP GIVE A CHILD A BOOK BY CLICKING HERE
“This campaign, year after year, continues to put thousands of new, age-appropriate books into the hands of kids throughout metro Detroit,” said Mike Murri, WXYZ-TV & WMYD-TV20 Detroit vice president and general manager.
Through the “If You Give A Child A Book” campaign, each year WXYZ-TV and the Scripps Howard Fund partner with local schools to reach underserved children, with a special focus on kindergarten through third grade.
In partnership with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan and Scholastic, WXYZ-TV is distributing the books at partner schools in the Detroit and metro Detroit area through various events and book drive-thrus. Books are chosen to be specific to each school and classroom. Through the partnership, students will be able to create their own home libraries filled with books they have chosen themselves. The goal — to give each student 10 age-appropriate books each year.
This is the fourth year in a row we’ve been at Pepper Elementary. This initiative has been a beacon of hope for countless students.
"This has become like a point of pride for our school. Our children look forward to getting the books," said Pepper Elementary School Principal Emanuel Haley. " This program allows the children to kind of accumulate books that they would not normally get."
WXYZ's Carolyn Clifford spoke with 10-year-old Brooklyn Webster, who now has her own library in her bedroom.
"When did you start that library?" asked Carolyn Clifford.
"I think last year," said fifth grader Brooklyn Webster.
Brooklyn has a love for books, especially those with a personal touch.
"I like reading a book about a girl who has curly hair and she keeps having to get it straightened so that people will like her hair, and I like that book because I have curly hair and I get my hair straightened a lot," said Brooklyn.
Brooklyn’s mom, who also loves to read, says she is ecstatic about our If You Give A Child A Book campaign.
"I love it, first it sparks her interest every year she’s introduced to a new book series and so she comes home excited about whichever book she got," said mom Rosalind Webster.
Following an internal employee donation campaign, we're now collecting donations from the community to help with our mission!
HELP GIVE A CHILD A BOOK BY CLICKING HERE
Multiple donation options are available to help local kids. They include:
- $12 will provide two books
- $30 will provide five books
- $60 will provide 10 books
- $120 will provide 20 books
- $600 will provide 100 books
The Give A Child A Book program has distributed over 1 million books and generated over 90 million reading minutes since its inception.
Related: An Exceptional Educator will be chosen monthly and our friends at Giroux Pappas Trial Attorneys will donate $1,000 to their school or program. Click here to learn more.
