Did you know that National Make a Difference Day is fast approaching? This year marks the 20th anniversary of Make a Difference Day. October 23 is a day set aside for us all to do one little thing that could make a ginormous difference. It’s easy to get trapped in our lives that waver between hum drum and hectic. It’s easy to live quite happily in our bubble. It’s easy to forget to lend a hand while we’re busy waxing about others’ boot straps and all.
It’s actually easy to make a difference.
October 23 is national Make A Difference Day, and the Wake County Public School System is inviting all families to participate. We can do a few simple things to make a difference in reading for struggling young readers across the county. It’s a great family project to make an Early Literacy Kit to send home with a deserving student at an elementary school in the district. Assemble an Early Literacy Kit using a two-gallon plastic zip top bag that you fill with items that parents and children can use at home to help promote early literacy skills. Once collected, the kits will be distributed by all elementary schools in Wake County to students who are in need of additional literacy materials in their homes.
Think about how books enrich your life. And think about all the children who don’t have books at home. So many of us take books for granted. They are strewn about and tucked every which wonky way upon the shelves. My sons each have a bookcase in their rooms and one in the playroom. My office has floor to ceiling bookcases built in across one whole wall. We have stacks of books in the family room and atop living room shelves and cabinets. Even my car is loaded up with books (for the car pool line, not for while I drive, natch). We take regular trips to the library (just went today!) and laze away rainy days in used book stores. We are all avid readers and disciples of words.
I remember when Bird was eight days old meeting our minister for the first time. Yes, there was a time we went to church regularly. Unitarian, right up our alley. Enriching but not preachy. Reverend J cradled Baby Bird and read Goodnight Moon to him. I asked Reverend J, “So when are we supposed to read to this little baby? Is he too young to appreciate it yet?” Her impassioned remark to me was, “Now! Read to this baby now! He shall hear your voice and the cadence of the stories and poems you read and he shall grow up with a love of books.” And she was right. We still read aloud to our boys, even though Bird is perfectly capable of reading independently. Piling on our bed with some books is a nightly ritual. A ritual some children never get to experience.
It’s so easy to Make. A. Difference.
Assemble and donate an Early Literacy Kit (or two or five). Drop it off at your child’s school by Friday, October 22.
You can also drop off kits Saturday, October 23 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM at the following locations:
Wake County Public School System Central Administration Building
3600 Wake Forest Road
Raleigh, NC
Crossroads II Building
Crossroads Office Park
110 Corning
Road Cary,NC
Items needed to assemble the kit:
- One two-gallon plastic zip top bag
- New or gently used picture book(s) for read aloud
- Notebook (spiral-bound or composition book)
- 8-pack of crayons
- Pencil
- Glue stick
- Blunt scissors
- Pack of 100 3×5 index cards
October 23. Make a Difference Day. No reason to limit it to just one day a year, right?
Hi Ilina,
My Girls Scouts troop is collecting and assembling bags this Thursday. The girls love to donate their books. I asked parents to donate $5-10 and bought the other supplies. Such a great cause. I will share with some of my friends.