The 10th annual Local 10 Big Book Drive kicked off Wednesday morning with an exciting start!
Local 10 anchor Eric Yutzy was at Sweetwater Elementary in Miami-Dade County where the kids were waiting to get their hands on a new book.
But before going there, Yutzy and Local 10 Community Relations Director Mayte Padron went some 50 miles south to distribute the first batch of books in Key Largo.
It’s all in an effort to spread a love of literacy in the tri-county area.
More than 200 eager readers greeted Local 10 at the Key Largo School.
When asked why she loves reading so much, third grader Sofia Lopez said, “Because you gotta read books that you love and take you to adventures anywhere you want to go.”
Sofia was among the Pre-K-4th graders that were able to choose the book they want to dive into over the summer -- or maybe sooner.
“Are you going to read it right away or wait for the summer?” Padron asked.
“Read it right away,” one girl said.
Key Largo School was chosen as a recipient of the 10th annual Local 10 Big Book Drive.
Serving schools from Monroe to Broward counties, the Big Book Drive has distributed more than 154,000 brand new books to kids who want to explore the wonderful world of words.
James Navarro is a first grader reading at a sixth grade level.
“We have a culture of literacy,” Key Largo School Principal Darren Pais said. “It’s a theme throughout the entire district, and we take it very personally here. As the kids know, I go to the classrooms and read every Friday.”
“A lot of kids do not have access to books at home and you’re providing that for them,” literacy coach Lissette Castillo said. “Research shows that the more books they’re exposed to at home, the higher their achievement in reading.”
And that’s the goal of the Local 10 Big Book Drive -- to bring happily ever afters to South Florida kids.
Local 10 also stopped by Driftwood Elementary School in Hollywood Wednesday afternoon, and will also make a final stop at Vera Cadillac in Pembroke Pines.
“We want to help them with their summer reading,” Vera Cadillac Vice President Richard Gonzalez said. “And what better way to do it than to do this? We’ve been doing it for 10 years and we plan to continue to do it.”
