Last week I wrote about taking part in Champions for Kids SSP (Simple Service Project) for September. Nickelodeon and Chmapions for Kids teamed up and thought of the awesome idea to give books to the less fortunate kids in our local area. As soon as I heard what the SSP was, I knew I was going to participate! Reading is something I hold very close to my heart and knew I could do my part to help out.
If you have never heard about Champions for Kids or want to know more information about their cause - please, please, please visit their website. CFK has so many creative and easy ways to help out kids - they truly make it simple to help out in your local area!
I knew that I was going to collect some books to give to a local children's home - what I didn't know was the statistics for literacy in the Sacramento region. After doing a little research, I was heartbroken. Only 37% of 3rd graders read at their grade level! This is hard to chew folks. Out of the 73% that are not reading proficiently, 54% of them will never catch up. Which leads me to the numbers for literacy of the unemployed in the Sacramento region... 75% of the unemployed adults in Sacramento have reading and writing difficulties.
Coming from a family that was always reading and that always had books on the bookshelf - this is heartbreaking. When I told my oldest son, who will be 4 in December, that there are kids without books - his expression was heartbreaking. He has been read to since he was in the womb, so a life without books was not even a thought he ever had.
Bubba was my #1 helper with this project - if it was up to him, we would have gotten all the books at Walmart to give to our local charity. It makes me so happy to see him want to help others. :)
First we went to Walmart (check out our shopping trip on Google+) to get some Nickelodeon books, it only seemed right since they teamed up with Champions for Kids to bring us this month's SSP.
Then we went home and dug through our collection of kids books. At first I didn't expect to pull out that many - as the thought of getting rid of any book was just crazy to me. But then I started noticing some duplicate books - so those went into the donation basket. Then there were some that both our boys have read and read, but no longer pick out - so they went in the basket too. By the time I was done we had a total of 25 books to donate!! I am still smiling about it. :)
Bubba was proud of himself too, which he should be!
Even after donating 25 books, the kids book collection is still impressive. How did I ever think that there wouldn't be any books to donate from their collection?? Seems so silly now!
Our donation went to Sacramento Children's Home, which actually has children's books on their wishlist. Their focus is to end the generational cycle of child abuse and neglect and has been active in the Sacramento region for 150 years. They are truly an amazing organization and I couldn't think of a better place to have donated the books to.
Do you have any extra kids books at your house? Maybe you do and don't even know it. I never would have thought we had a whole basketful - but we did! It wouldn't hurt to take a look and help out some kids in your local area. It's so easy to help out in little ways - even one book can make a difference to a child who has none.
Thank you so much for reading! To check out more about Champions for Kids or Nickelodeon, here are a few links:
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2 comments:
What a great place to give you donation! I love that picture of Bubba!
I love when both sides get something from these CFK missions. Your Bubba learned giving and pride and the kids of the Sacramento Children's Home get to explore the world of reading that without you and Bubba, they might not have. This warms my heart! Thank you for being you and for sharing this with us all.
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