Staff from The Literacy & Learning Center (TL&LC), formerly The Literacy Council, spent Monday afternoon visiting schools throughout Highlands dropping off gift bags and wrapped presents full of books for students.
Books were age-appropriate, ranging from pre-school to 5th grade and were delivered to all the elementary students at Highlands School (kindergarten through 5th) – approx. 130 books, 60 books for all the students at the Highlands Community Child Development Center (HCCDC), and 32 books for all the students at the Gordon School.
From left are Jenni Edwards and Bonnie Potts delivering books to the Gordon School located at the Highlands United Methodist Church.
“The Literacy & Learning Center purchases books to distribute at the Highlands Christmas parade every year,” said TL&LC Executive Director Bonnie Potts. “Because the parade was cancelled, we took a creative approach to distribute the books and decided to take them to the students at the local schools.”
TL&LC gives away approximately 5,000 books each year through various festivals, parades, and scheduled events. With most of these events being cancelled because of the pandemic, TL&LC’s book distribution process has been disrupted.
“Due to COVID, we have had to figure out how to get the books into the hands of children in other ways,” said Potts. “For Halloween, we hosted a drive-by event so children could get a bag of books and candy. We decided to deliver the Christmas parade books directly to the students at school.”
From left are Anna Norton, Bonnie Potts, and Jenni Edwards delivering gifts full of books for students at the Highlands Community Child Development Center (HCCDC) on Monday.
Highlands Mountaintop Rotary helped sponsor this book giveaway event.
“Reading not only improves vocabulary and language skills, but helps children improve concentration and develop their imagination,” said Potts. “We’re very grateful to the schools for working with us, to Mountaintop Rotary for sponsoring this program, and for the incredible children in this community that have a love of reading.”
To learn more about The Literacy & Learning Center’s programs click HERE.
Pictured at the top of the article from left are Jenni Edwards, Bonnie Potts, and Anna Norton delivering books to students at Highlands School on Monday.
Article and photos by Brian O’Shea
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