(WXYZ) — It's book drive day! On Wednesday, WXYZ-TV held a "If You Give A Child A Book" event at Schickler Elementary School in Lapeer, celebrating literacy and letting students pick out brand new books.
Each student had the opportunity to pick out four books during this fair. They also received another four books at our fair in May, which means we'll be able to give 4,100 books to students at Schickler!
VIDEO: Inside the Give A Child A Book fair at Schickler Elementary:
The Scripps family and members of the Scripps Howard Fund also attended the event along with Hooper and Clifford the Big Red Dog!
"It’s a wonderful day. It’s a great celebration of reading and giving back," said Mike Murri, WXYZ-TV and WMYD-TV20 Detroit vice president and general manager. "It feels so good to see all the generosity from our employees and our community. But what makes it extra special is having the Scripps family here today, for them to fly in and be able to see this firsthand. They really embody everything that is right about this company. It’s inspiring."
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 Fund, 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 Fund, we are now able to give more than 20,000 books to children in the community this year.
The book giveaway events started in January with the kickoff book drive taking place at Seminole Academy and King Academy in Mt. Clemens.
Fourth grade educator at Seminole Academy told 7 Action News: "Some of the students don’t have the opportunity to go shopping for books all the time because their families have to spend their money on just basic needs, especially with how things have been with the economy. So it’s something they may not be able to do on their own."
Lew Stass, GSRP coordinator at King Academy, said: "The fact that our 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds can take books home and create their own library because of Scripps Howard and Scholastic doing all the books behind the scenes is amazing."
Last year, the "If You Give a Child a Book" campaign celebrated giving away its one-millionth book at a metro Detroit school.
In partnership with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan and Scholastic, WXYZ-TV is distributing the 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
