(WTXL) — John G. Riley Elementary School assistant principal Candace Gautney spoke to WTXL ABC 27 about the impact of ABC 27's and the Scripps Howard Fund's "If you give a child a book" campaign.
"A lot of kids don't have access to transportation to go to the library or a lot of our parents don't have the money to have a library at home. So having the children having the ability to pick put their own books - something that they are really interested in makes then want to read. With their siblings, with their cousins they can trade and share books. It just opens up a whole new world for them," Gautney said.
ABC 27: How has the book campaign impacted reading scores?
"Any kind of reading practice is amazing so being able to give them anything that they are interested in if a kid loves Spider-Man they pick a Spider-Man book. If a kid loves ballet and she's going to read that book because it's something she wanted to read so they'll pick a ballerina book. So the more practice they have the better they'll read and do overall in school," Gautney said.
ABC 27: What would you say to people who may be hesitant to donate?
I want to say help our kids because at the end of they day these kids are going to be the ones running our society someday - they will be the leaders of our community and if we can pour into them now they'll be even better later on. We know readers are leaders so this is where it stars," Gautney said.
Thanks to the community's generosity, ABC 27 expands the campaign this year to Garrison Pilcher Elementary in Thomasville, Georgia.
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