Change a child’s life this holiday season: Sixth Annual Greater Hartford Holiday Book Drive will run through Dec. 22.

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Children’s Reading Partners, Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, Rotary Club of West Hartford, and The Miale Team at Keller Williams are teaming up for the sixth annual Greater Hartford Holiday Book Drive, which provides new and gently used books to at-risk elementary school students across our region.

The book drive is underway and will run through Dec. 22, with 12 drop-off locations in five towns: West Hartford, Manchester, Bloomfield, Glastonbury, and Newington.

“I’ve seen firsthand how excited these children become when they pick out their very own book to take home,” says Alana Butler, director of Children’s Reading Partners, a volunteer literacy initiative that serves at-risk public school students in Hartford, Bloomfield, East Hartford, New Britain, and West Hartford. “It helps them develop the literacy skills they need to succeed academically and grow a lifelong love of reading.”

All new book donations are presented to at-risk students and all used book donations are given to libraries at Children’s Reading Partners’ participating schools and partner organizations. Donated books should be general interest (non-religious) and appropriate for grades pre-K through 4. They may be hardcover or paperback, new or very lightly used. Spanish-English bilingual books are welcome.

There are nine different synagogue drop-off locations, as well as two social service organizations and one business.  For a full list of drop-off locations, go to bit.ly/CRPBookDrive2019. 

Financial contributions are also welcome at bit.ly/GHBookDrive2019; all proceeds are used to purchase new books for at-risk students. Ten percent of online donations will go specifically toward Spanish-English bilingual books.

“This is our sixth year,” says Bennett Forrest, president of the West Hartford Rotary Club and a real estate agent with The Miale Team at Keller Williams Realty who leads the drive. “Last year, participants donated more than 5,000 new and used books and more than $1,000. We’d like to exceed those numbers this year,” he notes.                                                                                                                            

To learn more about the Greater Hartford Holiday Book Drive, visit bit.ly/CRPBookDrive2019.

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