First Book-Lourdes College donates $4,000 to area literacy programs

First Book – Lourdes College has recently been awarded $4,000 in Borders Books gift cards for distribution to Northwest Ohio literacy programs. After completing an application process, the following six programs have been selected to receive funding:                              

1

• Texas Migrant Council

• Pope John Paul II School

• East Toledo Community Center

• Crissey Elementary School

• Raymer Elementary School

• Aurora Academy

First Book-Lourdes College works to promote and facilitate the distribution of new books to children in literacy programs throughout Northwest Ohio. By providing children from low-income families with books that they can take home and keep, First Book-Lourdes College works to help children become better readers and likewise increase reading test scores. First Book-Lourdes College is part of First Book’s national network of volunteer-led Advisory Boards who provide new books to children in need in communities across the country.  

First Book is a national nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. In neighborhoods across the country, First Book Advisory Boards unite leaders from all sectors of the community to provide books to children in literacy programs, shelters for battered children, housing project initiatives, soup kitchens, after-school programs and other community-based efforts reaching children living at or below the poverty line. In the past three years, First Book has distributed over 20 million new books to children in need in hundreds of communities nationwide. 

For information about First Book-Lourdes College, contact Barbara Walters, Reading Specialist for the Department of Education, at 419-824-3927 or email [email protected].