CLEVELAND – Saturday marks National Reading Day and here at News 5 we pride ourselves on helping our local youth promote the love of reading. We were able to do just that thanks to the Scripps Howard Foundation’s “If You Give A Child A Book …”
During that campaign, Scripps local TV stations and national networks were able to give away more than 165,000 books to the children who need them most, including here in Cleveland.
For example, each student at Louisa May Alcott Elementary School in Cleveland received four books through a drive-thru book distribution.
Reading is a fundamental tool, especially for young children, whose reading skills by the end of third grade can interfere with the rest of their education.
A child who cannot read in third grade is four times less likely to finish high school – and if that child lives in poverty they are 13 times less likely to graduate.
The Scripps Howard Foundation has been delivering books to children in need for the past four years and is distributing more than 352,000 new books thanks to donations from the Foundation and the staff of the EW Scripps Company.
To find out more about the campaign or to make a donation, click Here.