Leesville Road High School is hosting a book drive encouraging students and staff to drop off their unused children’s books to the library at Leesville. The campaign is called Wake Up and Read, and it is running through the whole month of February.
The Wake Up and Read campaign is targeting children’s books from infant to twelve years old, and has been around since 2012. The campaign’s goal is to provide children’s books to kids in need all over Wake County. The campaign was driven by the statistic that “long-range academic success hinges on reading at grade-level by third grade”. Now, many schools around Wake County are collecting gently used or new children’s books in order to ensure every child in Wake County has an opportunity to read a book at home.
“My goal is that we would collect 100 books, as if today (February 19) we only have 35. I am hoping in the next week and half, because February is almost over, that we at least can get close to that goal” said Mrs. Knightstep, who is leading the Wake Up and Read campaign at Leesville.
Mrs. Knightstep has been promoting the book drive on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, also by adding information on the school’s website, T.V. and announcements. Encouraging students to promote the drive amongst themselves and to bring in as many books as possible.
“It’s pretty disturbing when you think about the number of kids in Wake County alone who just don’t have a single book in their home, not one. And really that is the goal of this project, it has always been the goal, to get books into the little hands of children” said Mrs. Knightstep.
If you are interested in donating to the Wake Up and Read book drive, please bring your children’s books to the media center to the designated bins. Also, spread the word and help Leesville gather as many books as possible for our county. The campaign at Leesville will be terminating at the end of February — come on Leesville, Wake Up and Read.
