Student and adult readers fanned out across 80 Monmouth County classrooms to celebrate the 16th annual National Education Association’s Read Across America Day, while also providing children with books to read.
Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on the birthday of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss.
Bridge of Books Foundation volunteers shared their love of reading with children in classrooms in Keansburg, Asbury Park, Neptune, Red Bank and Freehold on March 2. They distributed 11,306 books to 4,362 students in Jersey City, Rahway, Hamilton, New Brunswick and Lakewood who don’t have books to call their own. Locally, 46 students at Acelero Head Start in Red Bank received 160 books, and 178 students at Acelero Head Start in Freehold received 406 books.
“Motivating children to read and giving them access to books is an important factor in student achievement and creativity,” said Bridge of Books Founder and Executive Director Abigail Daly.
Hundreds of individuals, students from local middle and high schools as well as volunteers from Vonage, AIG and Monmouth University have worked hard sorting thousands of donated books just in the last couple of months to prepare for this event.
“Our volunteers and supporters make this program possible,” Daly said. “We’re particularly thrilled to have the support of local corporations like T&M Associates of Middletown, who recognize the role reading plays in their communities.”
“A key aspect of T&M’s mission is to improve quality of life for the communities we serve,” said T&M Associates Marketing Manager Russ Reardon. “As we celebrate our 50th year in business with a year-long campaign to give back to our community partners, we thank the Bridge of Books Foundation for this wonderful opportunity to meet with students in Asbury Park and Keansburg and encourage their love of reading.”
Founded in 2003, the mission of the Bridge of Books Foundation is to provide an ongoing source of books to underprivileged and at-risk children throughout New Jersey in order to support literacy skills and to encourage a love of reading. To date, more than 600,000 books have been donated to children across the state.
For more information, contact Daly at 732-291-4755 or visit www.bridgeofbooksfoundation.org.