September’s Champions For Kids SIMPLE Service Project is all about helping give young children access to books! The Nickelodeon Big Help Book Drive gives us all the chance to ask our family, friends and coworkers to donate new and gently used children’s books or magazines for children in our community who may not have access to books in their homes. Learn more about this project and how you can organize a book drive at Champions For Kids.
Did you know?
- Students who read at home are better readers and have higher math scores. Also, students with different types of reading materials at home demonstrate greater reading proficiency.
- 67% of 4th graders are reading BELOW a proficient level, according to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress.
- 61% of low income families do not have books in their home for their children and more than 80% of preschool and after school programs for at-risk kids do not have any books at all.
The statistics about children living in a home with no books breaks my heart. I was brought up in a home with bookshelves full of children’s books and continue that tradition with my own kids. I believe it is important to instill a love of books in our children as early as possible so they can enjoy a lifetime of learning. The Nickelodeon Big Help Book Drive is a way we can help give children in our area access to books.
I was excited to get started on preparing for our book drive by taking a trip to Walmart to buy Nickelodeon character books, specifically a new book called Dora the Gymnast. My oldest 2 children are in school, so I just had the younger 2 boys with me. It was going to be a piece of cake to run into Walmart and find the Dora the Gymnast book, right? Wrong! Nothing is ever as easy as I think it’s going to be.
We looked high and low in the children’s books section. The good news is we found a few Dora books, but not the particular one we wanted. We did not see any other Nickelodeon character books anywhere else in the store. Where are all the rest of the Nick books?
We cleared the shelves of all the Dora the Explorer books we could find – then I felt a little guilty taking every single one, so I ended up putting a few of them back. We will return for more books next week before we turn in our donation to a local teacher.
The books we collect will likely go the the local Head Start preschool program. I have to place another phone call or two and work out the specifics, but for now, that is my plan. I think the Head Start classroom will be excited to receive a #NickCFK book donation, and hope I can collect at least one new book to give to each child in their program.
How You Can Help
Organize a Nickelodeon Big Help Book Drive within your own community! All the information and tips you need can be found HERE. Other helpful links for this Champions For Kids SIMPLE Service project include:
- Champions for Kids
- Champions for Kids on Twitter: @Champions4Kids
- Champions for Kids Facebook
- Nickelodeon on Facebook
- Nickelodeon on Twitter: @nickelodeontv
You can enjoy more photos from my Walmart shopping trip in my Google+ photo album.
Christy says
I think your local Head Start Program would be perfect for your donation. Such a worthy cause and kudos to you for getting your kids involved.
Nicole says
Thanks, Christy! We are working with the Head Start and they are excited to get the donation. 🙂