DETROIT (WXYZ) — One of the greatest predictors of a child’s success is books in the home. Over 61 percent of low-income families do not have any books in their homes, and now, more than ever, children need them.
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 10,829 books to over 2,000 children in the community this year, which will generate nearly 2 million minutes of reading time for our local kids.
“I am so proud of the team at WXYZ-TV and TV20 Detroit, and our viewers, for opening up their hearts and their wallets for the children in our community,” said Mike Murri, WXYZ-TV & WMYD-TV20 Detroit vice president and general manager. “This campaign, year after year, continues to put thousands of new, age-appropriate books into the hands of kids throughout metro Detroit.”
The nationwide campaign resulted in more than more than 207,200 books that will be distributed, which will generate about 37 million reading minutes.
In partnership with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan and Scholastic, WXYZ-TV is distributing the books across eight 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.
“Teachers are an intricate part of this process of helping select the books, and they will also receive Scholastic dollars to help purchase additional books for their classrooms,” says Dee Dee Rogers with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan.
The book distribution events started on January 20 with a book giveaway at Seminole Academy in Mount Clemens.
“Here at Seminole Academy, we really value reading and putting books into kids’ hands, because we know that when they read books that they really enjoy, their reading will improve,” said Matthew Lucas, Seminole Academy principal.
We also held a distribution event at MLK Junior Academy:
Stay tuned 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!
CLICK HERE TO DONATE ($5 = 1 Book)
Together, we can make a difference in our community. #GiveAChildABook
