National Reading Day is an annual event that celebrates and encourages reading by younger children.
The literacy event is designed to help students develop the literacy foundation they need to become lifelong learners.
Starting in kindergarten, if a student reads 20 minutes a day at home, they will have read for 851 hours by sixth grade and will likely score better on standardized tests than 90 percent of their peers.
WXYZ and WMYD employees, along with a matching donation from the Scripps Howard Foundation, raised a total of $18,768 to provide age-appropriate books for children. That helped provide more than 7,500 books that went to the United Way for Southeastern Michigan that will be used at their family facilities.
On Wednesday, General Manager Mike Murri, Carolyn Clifford and the entire WXYZ/WMYD team will present the check to the United Way for Southeastern Michigan's CEO.
Educators have long said reading makes people smarter, and there’s research backing them up. A recent study conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics found reading to children of any age wakens a number of regions in the left part of the brain. The areas in the brain that become active involve understanding the meaning of words and concepts tied to memory.
Last year, a Detroit organization received a surprise donation on National Reading Day. The Scripps Howard Foundation donated $10,000 to help kids at the St. Vincent and the Sarah Fisher Center.
