Local students participate in Better Basics projects
As a part of the Birmingham Reads project, VHEW, VHEE and Cahaba Heights Elementary will be collecting new and gently used children’s books through April 17 for the Birmingham Reads Book Drive Challenge.
Books collected in the book drive will be distributed to at-risk students through Better Basics’ literacy programs. Better Basics is a Birmingham-based nonprofit organization that provides literacy intervention, enrichment programs and educational opportunities for elementary and middle-school students throughout Alabama. It serves students in the community with programs to help struggling readers and to provide books to children who might not have access to books in their homes.
Community members are encouraged to participate in the book drive by dropping off book donations at any of the schools above, or bringing books to Brookwood Village on April 18. The Alabama’s 13 trailer will be parked on the street outside the Books-A-Million at Brookwood village to encourage the community to drive up and drop off books to help children.
The Birmingham Reads project is in its fifth year and is a partnership between Better Basics and the Junior League of Birmingham. Alabama’s 13, Books-A-Million, Brookwood Village, Scholastic Education, and Two Men and A Truck are sponsors. For more information about Birmingham Reads and the other events included in the community literacy celebration, visit our web site betterbasics.org/birminghamreads.
Emily Powell’s second grade class at Vestavia Hills Elementary School-East recently spent several weeks doing chores at home to earn money. They then brought their money to school and shopped for books to give to students through Better Basics’ literacy programs.
This is the third year that Powell’s second grade students have participated in this project.
“This project helps teach several lessons,” Powell said. “I try to tell the children that by giving these books to children who need them, they are helping those children reach their dreams. You never know, one day one of my students might be working alongside someone who received a book from this project.”
Students raised a total of $144 to purchase books through the store that Better Basics set up in Powell’s classroom. The children were able to pick out books for $1 per book.
The books given will be utilized in the Better Basics MORE program. MORE stands for Motivators of Reading Enrichment and is a program designed to encourage fourth-grade students to read for pleasure. When a student reads a MORE program book and completes a book report, the student is then given a book to take home. For many of the students served by Better Basics, it is the first book they have ever owned.
Better Basics served more than 19,000 students last year through its literacy programs. For more information about Better Basics, visit betterbasics.org or call 944-2928.
-Submitted by Sherri Blank