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 books. This month, consider donating them to United Way’s Stuff the Bus Book Drive.
United Way is teaming up with Marion Public Library and local businesses for the Stuff the Bus Book Drive May 19th through June 13th. 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.
Since its inception in 2011, more than 8,000 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
• United Federal Credit Union locations
• Huntington Bank locations
• Marion Technical College
• DeWolfe House
• Marion Public Library
• United Way
“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, Assistant Director at United Way. “Ultimately, we want to create better readers that will become better students, and eventually lead to more graduates.”
Marion Public Library Executive Director Gary Branson and United Way of Marion County Executive Director Pam Stone both agree that literacy and early learning are vital to the success of any community.
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 a variety of community programs and locations that are easy for children to access.
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: angie@unitedwaymarion.org or call 740-383-3108.