(WXYZ) — One of the greatest predictors of a child’s success is books in the home.
Employees at WXYZ-TV and TV-20 Detroit, along with the Scripps Howard Fund, have made it their mission to get high-quality books to children in our community through the "If You Give A Child A Book" campaign.
This past summer, WXYZ-TV and TV-20 Detroit did a call-out for donations from employees and the community. With those collected funds and with a matching contribution from the Scripps Howard Fund, we are able to give more than 20,000 books to children in the community this year.
“It does get bigger and better every year, and I can't think of a better way to start the year out than with our 'If You Give A Child A Book' campaign,” said Mike Murri, WXYZ-TV & WMYD-TV20 Detroit vice president and general manager. “Because of the generosity from our community, our employees, we're able to start this year out by distributing over 20,000 new, age-appropriate books to children in metro Detroit — and the need has never been greater. The impact is tremendous, it's transformative for these children.”
The book giveaway events started in February with a kickoff book drive on February 4 at Pepper Elementary in Oak Park. Each student was able to pick out five brand new books.
We even returned to Pepper Elementary in the spring for another If You Give A Child A Book donation event.
Watch our May report from Pepper Elementary below:
In February, students at Schickler Elementary School in Lapeer got to pick out new books to take home for their own personal library.
Related Video: Check out the book giveaway at Schickler Elementary School
And in March, we were there when students got to pick out their books during a Give A Child A Book event at Edison Elementary School in Detroit!
“A lot of these kids don’t have a library at home, parents have gone to digital reading, online reading and there’s nothing better than having a physical book in your hand,” said April Angle, a 5th grade teacher at Edison.
Our final book fair of the season was held on May 28 at Crothers Elementary School in Warren.
In addition to the book fair giveaways, Dav Pilkey, author and illustrator of the kid-favorite Dog Man series, is also gifting 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students of selected schools participating in the Scripps Howard Fund’s If You Give A Child A Book program a copy of Dog Man: Big Jim Begins.
Watch: Oak Park elementary school students surprised with free copies of new Dog Man book
In partnership with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan and Scholastic, WXYZ-TV distributes books at partner schools in the Detroit and metro Detroit area through various events and book drive-thrus. Books are chosen to be specific to each school and classroom.
If you'd like to give toward next year's donation drive, click the link below. We appreciate the community's support in this effort!
Together, we can make a difference in our community. #GiveAChildABook
