Channel 7 donates thousands of books to children as part of 'If You Give a Child a Book' campaign

DETROIT — Jan. 23 is National Reading Day and Channel 7 is celebrating by donating 16,000 books to children as part of the "Give a Child a Book" campaign.

More than 9,000 of the books will be dispersed to Matrix Human Services Head Start, which is one of the largest providers of free childcare to low-income families in Michigan.

Thanks to donations from WXYZ and WMYD employees, in addition to a generous donation from the Scripps Howard Foundation, Channel 7 will be stocking the shelves of 17 Matrix Head Start Detroit locations.

Matrix Head Start provides free, federally-funded early education for pregnant women, children zero to five years old and families and serves over 1,500 children throughout Detroit.

In addition to donating 6,000 books to the center, Channel 7 has made another 3,000 books available for Matrix Head Start parents to take home during a summer reading fair, so the children will have access to diverse, age-appropriate books at home, too.

Another 6,000 books will be distributed throughout metro Detroit, through various book fairs over the year.

Channel 7’s donation of 15,000 books translates to 2.7 million minutes of reading, according to Scholastic Book Fairs group, which estimates that every book generates about 180 minutes of reading for a child.

All-day on Jan. 23, the focus was on childhood literacy, starting at 6 a.m. with 7 signs to help a parent spot a reading problem in their child.

Also, Carolyn Clifford read to children at Matrix Head Start. She introduced a mother and son who had the courage to learn to read together Thursday at 6 p.m.

Tune in!