Help Bring the Joy of Reading to Kids!

Each year Goodwill’s BookWorks literacy program brings the joy of reading to children in need. It’s an enormous, growing effort that needs your help!

An annual drive to collect books for BookWorks starts Feb. 1 and runs through March 15. People in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Polk, Hernando and Marion counties are asked to donate new or like-new children’s books.

Bright House Networks, the Tampa Bay Times, WMNF 88.5 FM Community Radio, and WTRS - My Country 102.3/104.9 are sponsors of Goodwill’s book drive.

Goodwill’s BookWorks program promotes literacy by putting books into the hands of children from low-income families. Goodwill volunteers read to groups of preschool children at Head Start centers and other locations and then present each child with a personalized book to take home. This year, BookWorks efforts will expand to provide books to first- and second-graders in addition to preschoolers.

To donate books, attach a note indicating they are “For BookWorks” and drop them off at any Goodwill-Suncoast store or donation site in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Polk, Hernando or Marion counties. For donation locations, visit www.goodwill-suncoast.org or call toll-free 888-279-1988.

To volunteer for BookWorks, call 727-523-1512, ext. 1976.

Goodwill’s BookWorks program is designed to instill a love of books and reading in children to prepare them to succeed in tomorrow’s workforce. Because early childhood literacy is linked to later employability, BookWorks supports Goodwill-Suncoast’s mission of helping people achieve their full potential through the dignity and power of work.