June 21st is the national United Way Day of Action. The United Way of Crawford County (UWCC) is taking action by seeking community support as it strives to give the gift of literacy.
UWCC is launching their Stuff the School Bus campaign, which encourages people to donate new or gently used children’s books. The books are then given to different organizations to use or hand out to children across the county.
“According to language development researcher Stephen A. Stahl (1999), a 3 year old should have a vocabulary of 900-1000 words. Our community has a wonderful opportunity to support and foster a child’s language and literacy development. To make a difference, have fun and share a book with a child! Let’s all team up to cultivate a love of reading with children through book-giving,” said UWCC Board Member and coordinator for the Crawford County Mentoring Program, Robin Showers.
The majority of books will be distributed through community partners, such as the Crawford Childhood Initiative group, which is made up of organizations representing children from birth to third grade. Books for 3- to 5-year-olds will be given to the Ohio Heartland Community Action Center’s Head Start and Sara Beegle Child Care Center. Any additional donations will be given to the Little Library program.
The Stuff the School Bus Campaign will run from Friday, June 21st through Friday, July 19th. You may drop off your donation at the Bucyrus, Crestline or Galion United Bank locations, First Federal Community Bank’s Bucyrus and New Washington locations, Galion-Crestline Chamber of Commerce office or the Bucyrus Chamber of Commerce office.
Other efforts to promote reading continue through the United Way of Crawford County’s partner agencies that provide educational programs in our county. For more information check out our Facebook page, or call the United Way office at 419-468-4291.