Literacy Mid-South, in partnership with another organization, has announced the donation of nearly 500,000 brand-new books to children and families in need across the region, starting March 9 and continuing through March 13.
High-quality children’s books have been allocated and will be distributed from the Literacy Mid-South warehouse to schools, churches, nonprofits and regional organizations for free.
Literacy Mid-South is seeking volunteers to help sort, pack, label and organize the books with morning and afternoon shifts during the week of distribution. Volunteers can sign up at firstbook.org/BBVolunteers.
For details, contact the Book Bank team at fbnbb@firstbook.org or (866) 732-3669.
Literacy Mid-South is partnering with First Book, a Washington, D.C.-based group that has provided 125 million books to 155,000 schools and programs, to bring this first-of-its-kind major book distribution to Memphis.
As a regional partner, Literacy Mid-South was able to ensure that the majority of the books will stay in the Mid-South, as well as secure an additional 10,000 books to distribute to the organization’s school, church and nonprofit partners throughout the year.
“In Shelby County alone, less than 40 percent of students are reading proficiently by third grade, and the majority of school-aged children do not have access to books at home or outside of school,” said Kevin Dean, executive director of Literacy Mid-South. “This distribution will put brand-new books directly in their hands, giving them a greater opportunity to read and learn, and ultimately increasing the number of third graders reading on grade level in our community.”
