by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
With a team including the Jaguars Foundation, RALLY Jacksonville!, Scholastic Book Clubs, the international non-profit organization First Book and 34 local corporate and foundation partners, Mayor John Peyton’s early literacy initiative gained a lot of ground Wednesday at Municipal Stadium.
Peyton joined Delores Weaver and representatives from the partners and the non-profit organizations that will distribute 130,000 books to children from low-income families for the “Bringing Home the Love of Reading” celebration.
“We recognize the future of the city is largely dependent on how we treat our children,” said Peyton. “This is some of the most important work we do. It has made Jacksonville a national role model for early literacy programs.”
Since 2003, the Jaguars Foundation, with the cooperation of its partners, has distributed more than 450,000 books.
“We’re proud to help build toward the mayor’s goal of putting a million books in the hands of our children,” said Delores Barr Weaver, Jaguars Foundation chair and CEO.
“Research shows that children with low reading levels often have few or no books in their homes. We want to change that by providing each child with up to three books. We hope that by bringing books into the homes of these children we will help them to develop a lifelong love of reading and learning. An investment in books today is an investment in our children’s futures,” she added.
Peyton’s program also got help from students all over the country who participated in Scholastic Book Clubs “ClassroomsCare,” a literacy campaign designed to teach children about the joys and importance of reading and giving.
From the beginning of school through December 2006, classes across the country were challenged to read 100 books. In turn, Scholastic Book Clubs, a division of the children’s media and publishing company, donated 100 books to disadvantaged children nationwide for every class that achieved the goal.
The first wave of the 130,000 books from “Bringing Home the Love of Reading” were delivered to Communities in Schools of Jacksonville, The Bridge of Northeast Florida, Community Connections of Jacksonville, Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida and the MaliVai Washington Kids Foundation. In the coming days, hundreds of local childcare and early learning centers will receive books to distribute to children enrolled at the facilities.
Peyton said he expects the one-millionth RALLY Jacksonville! book will be delivered in June, but the effort to promote early literacy won’t stop there.
“We will continue to work to get books into households. We know we get the biggest bang for the buck when we start early.”