Fall in Love with Reading Book Drive

11/09/2017 12:00 AM

Throughout the month of October, the Bradley University Lewis J. Burger Center for Leadership and Service hosted a book drive for Trewyn K-8 School gathering more than 2,700 books.

This was the first year for the “Fall in Love with Reading” book drive. The goal was to collect around 200 new or gently used books for Trewyn students, and the event far surpassed the goal. Bradley’s Panhellenic Council, OLLI members, the Peoria Public Library and other donors from the Bradley community gathered 2,773 books.

At Trewyn, many of the students do not have books at home to read which takes a toll on the student body as a whole. Bradley’s Assistant Director of Student Activities for Leadership & Service Ben Wright said, “Over 90 percent of students at Trewyn are not reading at their grade level.” He said the book drive helped immensely by providing Trewyn students books of their own.

When the books were delivered on October 25, Wright said, “The response we had from the Bradley community was amazing, and none of this would have been possible without all of our donors. Together, the Bradley community helped these Trewyn students by providing them with the resources needed to succeed in school and life.”