GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Early education teachers from underserved areas in Grand Rapids received 600 books from Meijer and the Kids in Need Foundation (KINF) Tuesday morning!
The donation was made at The StoreHouse in Plainfield Township. The StoreHouse is a nonprofit partner of KINF.
"Our greatest assets are in our kids," says StoreHouse Director Jessica Johns. "We need to make sure that we're resourcing those schools with appropriate supplies."
KINF says the donation stems from a program in which they donated one book for every $75 of Pampers products bought at Meijer stores, which lasted May through July.
We’re told more than 10,400 books are being donated to Midwestern families who need them.
KINF tells us 2.5 million children in the U.S. attend school districts without libraries and 13 million are in school districts with reading material limited to less than 10 per student, citing data from the U.S. Department of Education.
"Oftentimes families will come in and not have a book in their home at all," says educator Lillian Cummings. "Our teachers typically buy books out of their own pockets, so this is going to mean a lot for a whole community."
Visit KINF’s website to find out how you can help address educational inequity.
