A Peoria nonprofit wants to make sure students have access to free reading materials during the coronavirus shutdown.
Look. It's My Book! donated more than 500 books to Peoria Public Schools to give away at the district's food distribution sites.
Mike Murphy, the nonprofit’s president, said they usually distribute free books within the schools six times throughout the year. But they're frontloading some of those efforts due to the pandemic.
"These are more so just so that kids have the opportunity to get a new book still and then can kind of keep on top of their reading,” he said. “We're encouraging students to still read at least 30 minutes a day."
Look. It’s My Book! usually donates a range of books catered to grade levels K-4. This time around, Murphy said, they donated cases of books from the Terry the Tractor series written by local author Mike Rucker.
Murphy said they're also working to keep the little free libraries at Peoria's elementary and primary schools well stocked.
"We're adding new books every week — between around five or six books — and then inside those books, we're putting notes in there for the kids to be able to keep those books instead of return them to the Little Free Library,” he said.
The need to replenish those books each week shows the program is reaching students, he said.
More information on Peoria Public Schools' food distribution sites and Little Free Library locations can be found on the district's website.
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