They're still learning to read, but a group of 70 students from Ralph Bunche Elementary School in Carson are nonetheless eager to devour the free books they recently received from the Book a Brighter Future campaign for childhood literacy.
The six-year-olds, mostly Latinos and African Americans, attended a special class on October 8 at the campus is Carson, a first-ring suburb located 12 miles south of Downtown Los Angeles. They listened to their favorite stories told by volunteers from department-store chain operator Macy's Inc. Then they exchanged opinions about the stories, enjoying a bit of educational exercise wrapped in fun.
The Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) organization and Macy's have joined up to strengthen the national campaign, which has become an annual event that's promoted in the retailer's stores throughout the U.S. during the back-to-school shopping season. The goal is to raise funds for local RIF programs and to offer reading resources to children who need it most.
During the recent event in Carson, Macy's executives delivered the results of the latest national campaign, a $6.5 million check the RIF Foundation.
After leafing through various books made available to the little ones, Luis Cruz, chose one called Pull the Bulldozer, which features heavy construction machinery.
"I liked it because I want to drive one of these when I grow up," he said, pointing to the bulldozer. "I don't know everything it says here because I'm learning to read. I don't know too much, but I like books a lot. They help me to read here, and sometimes at home my parents help me," he said.
Marco Reyes took a few minutes to decide on a Dora The Explorer story.
"I'm going to read the whole thing — this year I learned to read more," Reyes said with excitement. "They gave it to me to take home. I like this."
Merisa Camacho, a Southern California RIF spokesperson, said that the program will benefit an estimated 75,000 pre-school to third grade students from more than 220 low-income schools in the region. She said that Latinos account for approximately 75% of the students in the program.
"We're really excited because, nationally, we collected almost three times more this year than last, reaching more than$6.5 million, from which our area will get its part," Camacho said. "Besides giving books to children, our objective is that each school have multicultural textbooks in their library so their students can learn about the culture of other communities. That way we will be more in harmony with our society.
Terry Lundgren, chief executive officer of Macy's, said the retailer's participation in the program has helped draw more than 1 million donors to the effort.
"Giving back to the communities in which we work and live has been a priority for Macy's for a long time," said Lundgren "It's a wonderful way for our customers to support the education of children who live in their own community and at the same time benefit from special savings on their back-to-school purchases at Macy's."
A portion of any funds collected at local stores stays in the area, too, according to program officials. The breakdown comes to a three-way split among local RIF programs close to the Macy's store where the customer donation was collected, the RIF Multicultural Literacy Campaign, and various other initiatives by the organization.
"RIF's vision is a literate United States, in which children may access books and with them discover the pleasure and value of reading," said Carol H. Rasco, who serves as president and executive director of the organization. "Almost two thirds of low-income families have no books of any kind for their children. This joint campaign with Macy's allows RIF to give away books and reading resources for free to children with the highest risk of developing reading problems."
Nora Alicia Estrada is a writer for Impulso.
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