19 hours Ago
HOUSTON — More than a dozen KHOU 11 employees spent their Saturday morning elbow-deep in children’s books -- and loving every minute of it. The annual “Turn the Page” campaign is officially underway, and the KHOU 11 team was on-site at the Books Between Kids warehouse in southwest Houston, helping sort, stack and prep thousands of donated books. The goal is to get those books into the hands of children across Houston who need them most.
READ: Join us for our Turn the Page book drive! “This campaign is critical because it's helping us raise books, and these are books that go into homes of kids who don't have books at home,” said Kayla Hand, Executive Director of Books Between Kids. According to the nonprofit, 61% of low-income families in Houston have no books at home. The consequences of that can be lifelong.
Children who don’t learn to read by third grade are significantly more likely to fall behind in school and beyond. “We hear it all the time from kids coming through our events that they don't have books at home, and they are so excited, I can't even put into words the joy that they feel when they get to pick out their own book,” Hand said. “One of the special things we do is they get a sticker that says ‘this book belongs to’ and they get to put their name on it.
” Saturday’s warehouse volunteer day included familiar faces from the KHOU 11 newsroom and Great Day Houston. Reporters, producers and more brought along their families to lend a hand and build boxes to help distribute books. “It’s so fun! This is one of our favorite days of the year here in the warehouse with the KHOU 11 team,” Hand said.
“We’re going to get a lot of books sorted and a lot of books ready to go out to new homes.” Carlos Hernandez from Great Day Houston said being part of the process behind the scenes gave him a new appreciation for the mission. “This is a great opportunity to give to the community and it's cool to see the behind-the-scene process and how this works,” he said.
KHOU 11 Reporter Julissa Garza added, “I would not be the reader that I am today if it wasn't for that door being open for me as a child, so it means a lot to me to be part of another child's literacy future." KHOU 11 News Executive Producer Taylor Berry echoed the sentiment, especially when thinking about the impact on the next generation. “I hope you love them and use them and let them help you explore and really tap into your imagination and inspire you to be creative,” Berry said.
“And maybe one of them inspires you go figure out what you want to do in life." There’s still one week left in the Turn the Page campaign. This year’s goal is to collect 20,000 new and gently used children’s books.
You can also make a monetary donation..
