(WXYZ) — One of the greatest predictors of a child’s success is books in the home.
Employees at WXYZ-TV and TV-20 Detroit, along with the Scripps Howard Foundation, 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.
This past summer, WXYZ-TV and TV-20 Detroit did a call-out for donations from employees and the community. With those collected funds and with a matching contribution from the Scripps Howard Foundation, we are able to give more than 20,000 books to children in the community this year.
“It does get bigger and better every year, and I can't think of a better way to start the year out than with our 'If You Give A Child A Book' campaign,” said Mike Murri, WXYZ-TV & WMYD-TV20 Detroit vice president and general manager. “Because of the generosity from our community, our employees, we're able to start this year out by distributing over 20,000 new, age-appropriate books to children in metro Detroit — and the need has never been greater. The impact is tremendous, it's transformative for these children.”
The book giveaway events started in February with a kickoff book drive on February 4 at Pepper Elementary in Oak Park. Each student was able to pick out five brand new books.
In addition to the book fair giveaways, Dav Pilkey, author and illustrator of the kid-favorite Dog Man series, is also gifting 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students of selected schools participating in the Scripps Howard Fund’s If You Give A Child A Book program a copy of Dog Man: Big Jim Begins.
Students at Schickler Elementary had quite the fun day in January when they received their copies:
In partnership with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan and Scholastic, WXYZ-TV is distributing 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.
Stay tuned in the coming months to see stories of the campaign's impact both on-air and online.
If you'd like to give toward next year's donation drive, click the link below. We appreciate the community's support in this effort!
Together, we can make a difference in our community. #GiveAChildABook
