Schools of Hope Serves with Read n' Give Book Drive

I'm Dan Drust, a Michigan’s AmeriCorps member serving with United Way's Schools of Hope program. Located in Grand Rapids, Schools of Hope seeks to bring first through third grade students up to grade-level reading, bridging the reading gap between urban and higher performing schools in Kent County. We do this by offering in-school tutoring and after-school literacy programs for students, along with English as a Second Language (ESL) classes for parents to better prepare them to support their child’s learning. I am one of seven ESL teachers in the program, stationed at Grand Rapids Public School’s Burton Elementary School. You can go here for some more information about Schools of Hope.

Since most of our service is done in schools, the infectious air of the school-age students had us looking forward to spring break. My fellow AmeriCorps members and I were anxious for a change of pace and a break from our normal service. We didn't, however, look toward tropical locales to refuel - we engaged in a different type of service for the week, which also benefited our students.

Instead of enjoying afternoon hammock naps, we participated in a statewide book drive called Read n’ Give. Organized by Crowe Horwath, LLC and The LEAGUE Michigan, books were collected at over 90 locations across Michigan - everywhere from banks and bookstores to elementary classrooms where community service is integrated with learning. The book drive netted just over 25,000 volumes across the state, with more books still coming in to the tune of hundreds, even thousands, at a time.

Our Schools of Hope team was responsible for managing the books donated in West Michigan. We spent three days tagging each of the 9,000 books with a Read n’ Give sticker that serves as a sort of reader registry and encourages readers to do just as the name implies - read the book and pass it along to a new owner. After tagging, the books were organized based upon reading levels. So then, what does one do with thousands of books?

Put them in the hands of readers, of course! The books that were donated throughout West Michigan were brought to Grand Rapids to be given to local children who can use them as summer reading material. After sorting the avalanche of books, we packed 1,163 book bags with three books each, to be distributed to students who we see every day in our service. Each student who receives services through the Schools of Hope AmeriCorps program will take home three age-appropriate books. We are excited to be a part of the book drive and benefit from it in this way because research shows young readers have a better chance of increasing their literacy skills when reading materials are present in their homes.

The books allotted for Schools of Hope only account for about half of the West Michigan Read n’ Give books. The remaining books were given to the Salvation Army, serving clients pre-kindergarten through adult, and Camp Blodgett, a local camp for low income campers.

Though we may have missed out on tan lines and sunburns during our spring break, we’re fortunate to have been a part of such an successful book drive. Undoubtedly, the students we work with will be pleased to take home reading materials at the end of the school year, and we are pleased that the motivation we’ve helped build in these young readers will not wane due to a scarcity of books in the home.