The WOLF Internet Radio and the Carrollton Dawnbreakers Rotary Club are hosting a children’s book drive now until Nov. 29 to give back to the community and raise the literacy rate in Georgia.
All donations will benefit Tanner Health Service’s ReadER program. Books may be dropped off between 10 am and 5 pm at The WOLF Internet Radio office located on the ground floor of the Anthropology building.
“The ReadER program is a program that recognizes the low literacy rate of Georgia, and attempts to combat it at a young age.” said Sarah Sulski, events promotions director for The WOLF Internet Radio. “Currently, 61 percent of low-income families do not have a single children’s book in their homes. Hopefully, with your help, we will be able to make a sizeable dent in that statistic. ReadER’s goal is to provide every child that must visit the emergency room, regardless of their ailment or issue, with a book to take home along with them.”
Seventeen percent of adults in Georgia also lack basic literacy skills, according to the Tanner ReadER website. The website also informs people that without basic literacy skills, an adult cannot perform basic concrete skills. The Tanner ReadER program’s mascot, Tanny the turtle, will help promote reading to the parents and children visiting Tanner’s emergency room as well as visit schools and organizations in the community.
In order to increase donations, The WOLF Internet Radio will host competitions between the university’s organizations as well as between individuals in order to encourage strong participation. The prize for donating the most books will be the WOLF Internet Radio’s resource for the event of the winners choosing. This winning organization will receive social media posts, radio promos and radio deejay at an event with full PA system for three hours.
“This means, not only will we freely provide our services for an event of your choice, but you will receive free promotion for your organization through these shout outs,” said Sulski.
Individual prizes differ slightly and will be revealed once the competition ends, but may include Carrollton restaurants.
The winner will be announced on air Dec. 1 during the season finales of the semester’s shows: Good Vibes Monday at 7 pm, The Power Hour Tuesday at 7 pm, Sports Pack Wednesday at 7pm on the Sports Stream, Y Wolf? Wednesday at 7 pm, Pre-game Thursday at 8 pm and 7-Inch Atlanta Friday at 8 pm.
Rules do apply to the competition. No cheating; books must only come from reliable sources, if they come from questionable resources, the organization submitting the books will be disqualified. The books must be new, or used but still in good condition. Books that are falling apart will not be accepted.
“As our university is expanding, our president, Dr. Kyle Marrero, has emphasized the need to give back to the community around us; this is your opportunity.” said Sulski.
All individuals and organizations that wish to participate should contact The WOLF at thewolf@westga.edu with the subject: ReadER.