At Wheatley Education Campus, a Giveaway that Keeps Reading Skills on Target
Corporation teams up with nonprofit First Book to provide thousands of free books for students
Donning Cat in the Hat headwear, Wheatley Education Campus Principal Scott Cartland gets students excited about reading on Friday during a free book giveaway sponsored by Target and First Book, a nonprofit that provides millions of high-quality books to children in need. | Photo by Fred Lewis
Dozens of Wheatley Education Campus students browse the titles of thousands of books Sept. 24 during a free book giveaway sponsored by Target and First Book, a nonprofit that provides millions of high-quality books to children in need. | Photo by Fred Lewis
Dozens of Wheatley Education Campus students browse the titles of thousands of books Sept. 24 during a free book giveaway sponsored by Target and First Book, a nonprofit that provides millions of high-quality books to children in need. | Photo by Fred Lewis
Dozens of children at Wheatley Education Campus got a chance to meet some new friends Friday morning, including Junie B. Jones, Dr. Seuss, Clifford the Big Red Dog and that kid Alexander, who was having a “terrible, horrible, no good very bad day.”
Students at the Northeast school got to choose three brand new, high-quality children’s books from stacks of thousands set up in Wheatley’s auditorium during a nationwide free book giveaway launched by Target and First Book, a nonprofit that provides millions of books to children of low-income families.
“We’re thrilled to have new books to give to kids to keep,” said Wheatley EC Principal Scott Cartland. “These are great books, great titles and [this program] enhances and supports what we’re doing around literacy. We’re grateful to Target and First Book for letting this happen.”
First Book and Target have teamed up to provide 1 million books nationwide to children in need at Title 1 schools. In the District alone, Target and First Book provided 40,000 books – 3,000 went to Wheatley.
“We believe, ‘A Book Today is a Friend Forever,’ and ‘Today’s Readers are Tomorrow’s Leaders,’” said Mitali Chakraborti, national outreach director for First Book. “We want to lower the barrier to access to high-quality books and educational materials for children in need.”
Target has made literacy a mission by moving forward with a new pledge (visit the company’s website): For every person who pledges to read regularly to children for 30 minutes a day, Target will donate a new book to a child in need.
“Target’s commitment to education runs deep,” said Reba Dominski, director of community relations with Target. “Since 1946, Target has donated 5 percent of our income – that’s $3 million every week, and a significant portion of that goes to education specifically around books and reading. Today, we launch a new initiative, Target Read with Me, designed to engage millions of Americans who are committing to regular reading with children.
“If this helps one kid in this school discover the power of reading to empower their learning for the rest of their lives – that will make a real difference,” Dominski continued. “We’re trying to start a movement.”
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