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#LoveforLiteracy Book Drive!

Happy Wednesday readers! December is the month of giving, and what better way to give than to donate books to children in need? I am a HUGE advocate for reading overall, but especially for children! I wanted to create a fun book drive called #LoveforLiteracy to highlight the importance of reading in not only children, but all ages. Reading as a child for me was a fun adventure, and one that I loved to embark on over and over again. I can't stress enough how important it is for children to experience reading starting within the household. Reading for me was an outlet, a way for me escape the troubles or issues that I had growing up. I loved the responsibility of having my own library card, learning when to return books back (FINALLY realizing that I couldn't keep them) since according to my mom that was stealing lol.

​Reading shaped me into the woman that I am today, and most importantly, it holds a special place in my heart, which is why I decided to create this book drive! I wanted to do something that everyone can be involved in, PLUS gives each and every one of us an awesome chance to promote reading in children of all ages, and do something amazing for all kids in our communities! I will be doing this book drive all December long, so make sure to like and share this post to get the message out there! With all of the children's books that we receive, we will be donating them to Book Harvest, a Durham-based nonprofit organization that believes in the power of books to change children's lives and that works to ensure that all children grow up in book-rich homes. Book Harvest believes that books are essential to children’s healthy development and well-being and that all children deserve to grow up in book-rich homes. To that end, they work to remove barriers to book ownership, to fuel a lifelong love of reading among America’s children that will enable success in school and in life. Since it kicked off in 2011, Book Harvest has provided more than 1,000,000 donated books to children the Triangle area! That's AMAZING! Let's continue this amazing success! Check out my #LoveforLiteracy Book Drive details below on how you can donate to this amazing cause! 

Reading is Power!

• Books at home propel a child further in education. “The difference between being raised in a bookless home compared to being raised in a home with a 500-book library has as great an effect on the level of education a child will attain as having parents who are barely literate (three years of education) compared to having parents who have a university education (15 or 16 years of education). . . . Both factors, having a 500-book library or having university-educated parents, propel a child 3.2 years further in education, on average.” From “Books in home as important as parents’ education in determining children’s education level”, Science Daily, May 21, 2010.
• Books in the home are the single biggest indicator of academic success — surpassing income, parents’ education, family composition, and all other factors. To do well in school, children need to grow up in homes rich with books. (Jeff McQuillan, The Literacy Crisis: False Claims, Real Solutions, 1998).
• Academically, children growing up in homes without books are on average three years behind children in homes with lots of books, even when controlled for other key factors such as income and parents’ education.  (M.D.R. Evans et al, “Family scholarly culture and educational success:  Books and schooling in 27 nations”,Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, June 2010)
• The most powerful and highest-impact way to improve the reading achievement of economically disadvantaged children is to increase their access to appropriate print materials (Sanford Newman et al, “America’s Child Care Crisis: A Crime Prevention Tragedy”, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2000.
• Providing a wealth of books to children in low-income homes can help break the link between poverty and poor academic outcomes.

​*Statistics inserted via Book Harvest website*

How You Can Help:

1. I will be running my #LoveforLiteracy Book Drive from December 1-31,2018!
2. Book Harvest needs OUR children's book donations to make this work possible. Can you take a few minutes to clear your cluttered shelves of books your kids, brothers, nephews, sisters, nieces etc have outgrown, so that they can find their forever home with a child who needs them?
3. We need books for all ages, especially board books and picture books for the youngest readers, as well as books in Spanish and bilingual books
4. Don't have books but want to donate? That's okay! I have created a personal gofundme page with proceeds going directly to Book Harvest! Any amount helps a child receive a book in the home! Help me reach my goal of $500 this month by donating here: 
   www.gofundme.com/kiera039s-campaign-for-book-harvest?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=email&utm_content=campaign_link_t&utm_campaign=welcome
5. ​To volunteer with this book drive to find out more, please contact me via my contact page below, or comment under this post on how you can help continue the amazing journey that Book Harvest has created to empower reading for children throughout our communities! Visit www.book harvestnc.org to learn more!