JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — We are now in the fourth year of Tenikka’s Books for Kids.
It’s an effort that aims to put books in the hands of local children over the summer.
Rebekah Mitchell, the Youth Learning Manager for the Jacksonville Public Library, said the program “is incredibly beneficial to the kids that are in our community.”
Due to the pandemic, we decided to make this year’s drive virtual, asking you to order books online to donate or make a financial contribution to the Jacksonville Library Foundation.
Mitchell wants you to know that your donations support children participating in the library’s Summer Learning Program.
The library’s programming is designed to keep children engaged and help prevent the “summer slide.”
“The impact of the summer slide -- that kids who don’t read over the summer actually lose some of their reading ability. So, during the summer we incentivize reading and we want kids to read every day,” Mitchell said.
Kids who meet their summer learning reading goals earn free books supplied by your generous donations to Tenikka’s Books for Kids. It helps them build their own little libraries at home, which studies show can boost reading gains and performance in school. If you choose to make a financial donation to the library foundation, that helps too.
“The giveaway books, things like that that is not funded by the taxpayer. So that is independently raised. So, our Foundation is kind of that stop gap that helps us be able to go above and beyond just the standard offering of libraries.” Mitchell said, “So all of our exciting programs that we offer, the materials for some of those things and, and especially the incentives for reading over the summer that really does come a lot from the Foundation.”
You can donate to Tenikka’s Books for Kids, now through March 12, by clicking here: https://bit.ly/3pYSllC
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