Volunteers from throughout the community will be working in shifts Friday to assemble about 600 literacy kits for children in Bloomington families in honor of the Day of Action, a national United Way program.
The literacy kits will include books, a bookmark handmade by volunteers and other school supplies.
Literacy and the number of books in a home have a strong correlation to success throughout life, and lower income households tend to have fewer books in the home, said Efrat Feferman, executive director of United Way of Monroe County.
“This is one way we are trying to level out the playing field for those kids,” Feferman said.
The literacy kits will be distributed to some families who don’t have time to build their at-home libraries.
Emily Pike, New Hope for Families executive director, will be speaking with the volunteers about the importance of literacy kits. New Hope for Families emphasizes helping the homeless and educating and caring for youth. It is one of the six partnering agencies helping distribute the kits.
Pike said she looks at this event as a way to help students in lower-income families start at the same point as students from higher-income families.
“Being able to help kids not start off at a disadvantage is really important to us,” Pike said.
Pike said helping the community starts with helping the most vulnerable members and making sure their needs are met. This is how the community can really give back to the people who need it, she said.
“In order for any community to be strong, we need its members to be strong,” Pike said.
