Lake Erie College students donate more than 5,000 books to Painesville Schools

Hard work has paid off for Lake Erie College education students who started the “Bridge the Word Gap” project to raise money and collect books for local children.

The students from the Education 308 Family and Community Studies course recently presented the Painesville School District with more than 5,000 books for the Summer Book Box, according to a news release.

The Book Box is a summer mobile program sponsored by the Curriculum Department that stops at four locations in the city of Painesville, allowing students to take books home to improve access to reading. Unlike a library, the books are for students to keep and they are encouraged to take as many as they want, the release also says.

The goal is to inspire both children and adults to embrace regular reading, which in turn promotes childhood literacy.

The college students kicked off this service learning project March 28 with a scholastic book fair.

They also used of social media platforms, Buy-Sell-Trade and other fundraising strategies, including a dine-to-donate at Chipotle.

Promoting reading is essential. Research conducted by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Education Association has shown that reading for pleasure increases vocabulary and long-term academic success.

The Book Box program increases students’ access to books and promotes family literacy.

“We want to ensure that books are easily accessible to all community members in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere,” said PCLS Curriculum Director Wendy Camper. “We are encouraging reading for fun so students learn that reading just doesn’t happen at school. We are so appreciative of all the hard work that Lake Erie College has done for us this year and in the past. We cannot express our gratitude enough.”

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