Take a good, hard look at your bookshelves. If you are like many families who love to read, you have accumulated a lot of children’s book. This week, the United Way of Marion County is asking you to consider donating them to their Stuff the Bus Book Drive.
United Way is teaming up with local businesses for the Stuff the Bus Book Drive through June 21, 2013. Working together, they are asking Marion County residents to help stuff busses full of new and like-new books to help children in Marion County discover the gift of literacy.
Last year, more than 5,000 books were collected through the Stuff the Bus project. This year, the number of participating locations has grown to include banks, private industry, retailers and more – so be sure to look for a school bus near you! Public drop off locations include:
- Marion County Children Services;
- The Marion Star;
- Peltier Chiropractic;
- United Federal Credit Union locations;
- Huntington Bank locations;
- United Bank on Barks Road;
- DeWolfe House; and
- United Way.
The Marion Public Library’s Friends of the Library also partnered with the event this year, leveraging their annual book sale to provide an inexpensive outlet for donors to purchase books.
“Knowing that in low-income neighborhoods the ratio of age-appropriate books is 1 for every 300 children and that 26.4% of Marion County children live in poverty, a book drive is a simple strategy to place books in the hands of local children,” stated Kelly Garrett, Campaign & Marketing Manager at United Way. “Ultimately, we want to create better readers that will become better students, and eventually lead to more graduates.”
Garrett says that each and every book will help give a child the tools they need to succeed. Books collected through the drive will be divided and distributed through the Help Me Grow home visitation program for children ages 0-3, HeadStart for children ages 3-5, and Center Street Community Health Center. A share of the books will also be used to help stock the library at Boys & Girls Club’s new location.
The United Way of Marion County and its community partners are working together to advance the common good by focusing on education, a fundamental building block to a good quality of life.
If your organization is interested in participating, please contact the United Way of Marion County at: [email protected] or call 740-383-3108.
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