Ladies for Literacy Guild Hosts Third Annual Month-Long Book Drive
HOUSTON – The Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation’s Ladies for Literacy Guild, in partnership with Reliant, Houston Rocket’s Women’s Organization, Houston Public Library and Harris County Public Library is hosting their Third Annual Community Book Drive from now through March 28, with a goal of collecting 25,000 new and like-new books for children and youth ages 4 through 13. The books donated will help to re-stock the Curiosity Cruiser, a mobile library created and funded by the Ladies for Literacy Guild. The Guild donated the Curiosity Cruiser to Harris County Public Library last year to provide educational programming and books to disadvantaged children across greater Houston. In addition, books collected through the month-long event will benefit community-based organizations across the city to serve children and families.
“We are grateful to members of our Ladies for Literacy Guild and our community partners for their commitment to ensuring that every child in our community has access to books in their homes,” said Julie Baker Finck, Ph.D., President of the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation, “We are confident that the Houston community will once again give generously and help make the Annual Community Book Drive a huge success.”
“Each year we call upon the Houston community to clean off their book shelves or purchase new books to donate during the month of March so that we may place them in the hands of children in need,” said Rosie Damgaard, Ladies for Literacy Book Drive Committee Co-Chair. “The Ladies for Literacy Guild cares deeply about our community and believes that the book drive is just one important role we can play in setting our children up for a brighter future.”
In addition, the month-long book drive will end with a big event at the Rockets game against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday, March 28 at Toyota Center in partnership with Houston Rockets Women’s Organization and Reliant. Fans will be encouraged to donate books to be entered into a drawing to win one of five Houston Rockets player packages. Area literacy partners will select from the thousands of books garnered from the book drive the following day at a celebration hosted at Toyota Center.
For information about the Ladies for Literacy Guild book drive, book suggestions and drop off locations, visit www.bushhoustonliteracy.org/book-drive. In addition to donating books, a monetary donation in support of the Annual Community Book Drive can be made at www.myhomelibraryhouston.org.
About the Ladies for Literacy Guild
The Ladies for Literacy Guild is a volunteer auxiliary group that supports the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation. Led by President Donatella Benckenstein, Ladies for Literacy is a volunteer-based auxiliary of the Foundation which was formed in 2015 by a group of 97 Founding Members. Since that time the Guild has grown to more than 300 members. Their mission is: In the spirit of service, the Ladies for Literacy Guild mobilizes resources to foster a love of reading through the power of literacy. They do this by Rallying members and supporters to advance the literacy cause; Enriching the lives of those in the Houston community through literacy; Advocating the importance of literacy; and Devoting time, talent and resources to ensure the success of the mission. To learn more about the Ladies for Literacy Guild, please visitwww.bushhoustonliteracy.org/ladies-for-literacy/. To learn more about the Curiosity Cruiser, visit www.CuriosityCruiser.com.
About the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation
The Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation is a charitable organization formed by Neil and Maria Bush to carry forth First Lady Barbara Bush’s legacy in the literacy cause and to focus deeply on breaking the intergenerational cycle of low literacy in the Bush family’s hometown. Founded on Mrs. Bush’s belief, “If you help a person to read, then their opportunities in life will be endless,” the Barbara Bush Foundation’s mission is to improve lives through the power of literacy – the ability to read, write, speak clearly, and think critically.
The Foundation serves as the champion across the Greater Houston area for the literacy cause, raising awareness for the value and importance of literacy, mobilizing volunteers and resources to build critical capacity of community-based literacy providers, and investing in local literacy programs and services that support children and families to develop strong literacy skills for success. For more information, visit www.bushhoustonliteracy.org or follow us on Facebook at @bushhoustonlit,, Twitter @bushhoustonlit, Instagram @bushhoustonlit.