Lake to hold giant book drive
United Way of Lake County and Bernie’s Book Bank are sponsoring the county’s largest book drive this summer called Page it Forward.
The goal is to collect 100,000 books for low-income children in Lake County through a summer-long book drive with a contemporary twist.
United Way of Lake County’s kindergarten readiness assessment of incoming kindergartners’ skills in Waukegan found that 76 percent of Waukegan 6-year-olds had no knowledge of books.
Reading is the most important skill a child needs to learn, but children can’t become proficient readers without access to books.
The Page it Forward book drive will kickoff Tuesday, June 21, in conjunction with United Way Worldwide’s National Day of Action. The launch includes the first book collection event at Conway Business Park in Lake Forest from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
There will be five other sites throughout the summer for book collection. Other locations can be viewed at www.uwlakeco.org/pageitforward.
What is the contemporary twist? In addition to the ambitious scale of the “on-site” book drive, United Way of Lake County is rolling out a set of cutting-edge social media options to make contributing books through the Page it Forward campaign accessible, exciting and meaningful to all.
Whether it’s collecting donations through custom Peer-to-Peer fundraising tools, or using text-to-give mobile fundraising to purchase more books, or donating one book by “liking” facebook.com/pageitforward, everyone in our community has an opportunity to Page it Forward in their own, unique way.
Harris Bank is also supporting Page it Forward through social media advertising efforts. Harris Bank will donate one book to the drive for every “Like” the Page it Forward Facebook page receives.
“We are very excited to kick off the largest book drive in Lake County,” said Kristi Long, president and CEO of the United Way of Lake County.
“United Way of Lake County and Bernie’s Book Bank are confident that we can meet our goal of collecting 100,000 books with the help of residents and businesses.”
Future Page it Forward Summer event locations:
Ÿ Noon to 9 p.m.* July 12, Independence Grove, Libertyville, 16400 W. Buckley Road.
Ÿ 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. July 20, United Conveyor, Waukegan, 2100 Norman Drive West.
Ÿ 11.am. to 5 p.m.* Aug. 14, Gurnee Days, Gurnee, 4398 Old Grand Ave.
Ÿ 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Aug. 24, EH Wachs, Lincolnshire, 600 Knightsbridge Parkway.
Ÿ 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.* Sept. 11, Farmers Market, Buffalo Grove, 951 McHenry Road.
* donate books at these locations and enter a raffle to win a $50 Visa gift card