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| Hampton Township School District becomes latest partner in book campaign |
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Hampton Township School District plans a spring book drive to help The Consortium for Public Education move closer to a 10-year goal of collecting 1-million children’s books for needy families.
Hampton’s planned drive marks its first year of participation in the campaign, which has enjoyed support from hundreds of schools, businesses and other community partners since it began. Now in its ninth year, the campaign, which is run in partnership with The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank under the banner The Fifth Food Group: Food for the Mind, is coming within striking distance of its goal, said David Pribish, who coordinated it along with The Consortium’s other Literacy for Life programs. “We’ve collected and distributed more than 800,000 books so far.”
Increased demand at The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank is expected to mean more calls for the new and gently used children’s books, which are distributed through the nonprofit’s 318 neighborhood food pantries.
An estimated 1,500 new families each month are relying on their neighborhood food pantries. “We want to respond so that families can get books as well as food staples,” said Pribish “We’ll need all of the partners who usually help us and more.”
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Among other schools, businesses and organizations that have helped so far during the 2009-2010 school year are, Comcast, Rutherford Market of Bethel Park and Ketchum Inc., Franklin Regional Middle School and Pittsburgh Brashear High School.
Organizations wishing to help are welcome to conduct their drives at any time. The Consortium supports partners with promotional material and tips for making their drives successful. It also handles sorting and storage of the books before they’re transported to food pantries.
The Consortium started The Fifth Food Group because “Kids in homes with age-appropriate books are often more ready to learn when they reach school age and more likely to learn to read for pleasure after they’re in school,” Pribish said.
If your business or organization is interested in participating, please call 412-678-9215 or email us. We can also provide materials to support your book drive.
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