Mendota wants to give the gift of lifelong literacy to young children this Christmas.
City officials are hoping to raise as much as $3,000 over the next month and – combined with a 50 percent matching donation from Usborne Books and More – more than $5,000 by Christmas to purchase books for area youngsters and offer them at the annual Mendota Christmas event.
City officials said they are driven by sobering statistics that find that by fourth grade only 54 percent of children still find reading fun.
On the flip side, a 20-year global study recently concluded that children who had 500-plus books in their home completed more than three years' more of education than their peers and went on to earn an average of more than $21,000 more per year.
The Mendota Christmas event is slated to be held at the Graves-Humes Public Library. Organizers estimate that a donation of just $25 can provide two to three children with a new book.
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