MISSOULA — KPAX and the Scripps Howard Foundation have partnered for years to improve literacy at Title One schools.
Our 'Give a Child a Book' campaign is taking donations and gearing up for another book fair, with all titles free of charge to kids.
"I'm really grateful to everybody that's donated all the books and happy that kids that sometimes don't have an opportunity to read at home can get that opportunity," student Evie said. "There are probably a lot of kids in this school that wouldn't be able to read without their support and donations," she continued.
Evie is a fifth grader at Lowell Elementary. Both she and fourth grader Hazel believe that access to books changed their lives.
"Basically the whole point of learning is mostly reading. Reading's important to me because I would not be the same person without reading," student Hazel told MTN.
"Sometimes when I'm sad, I'll pick up a book and kind of just forget that I'm sad," Evie added.
Yearly, KPAX and the Scripps Howard Fund brings hundreds of free books to Lowell students.
"The more money we raised during this means the more books that kids get to take home. And I think this year, we're going to do it for Dolly and every kid is going to get to take home more books than they ever have before," Missoula County Public Schools board trustee and Lowell parent Meg Whicher shared.
It’s all donation based. When you give, it goes directly to kids who may not be able to buy books to fill shelves at home.
"Our kids, I think because of our book fair, have become voracious readers and they absolutely love getting their hands on new books. Many of them can't make it to the public library or to other spaces or can't afford the books. And so now that they want to read more, it's even more important that we get more books in their hands," Lowell librarian Chris Russell explained.
Russell says that more reading material makes ripples in the Missoula community.
"I think just the exposure to how many things are out there, right? So not only can they get lost in someone else's story, which builds empathy and builds compassion, but it's also this exposure to all these different elements of the world that they maybe didn't realize. So it could be future careers. It could be future passions that they want to develop," Russell detailed.
Donations are accepted until Friday, Sept. 11.
To learn more and donate, click here.
