After a successful round of Bottles For Books back in May, the Kiwanis Club of Chatham-Kent is happy to announce another round happening August 30 to September 7.
For one week, the Kiwanis Club is asking for residents and businesses to donate their empties (alcohol cans and bottles) with all the funds being used towards the distribution of books through The Dolly Parton Imagination Library.
The Dolly Parton Imagination Library is an initiative that promotes the love of reading and literacy in kids ages zero to five by sending registered kids a book each month.
"The literacy rate is dropping in our community, as well as the province, so by getting books into children's hands right off the bat is going to set them up for success," said Paradis. "We have on average raised around $1,200...so we would like to stay around that range or increase it. When we raise that much money that goes directly into our fund to start taking kids off the waitlist. When we accept kids we have to make sure the Kiwanis Club are able to fund that for the five years until they age out. We commit to making sure they get a book until they turn five. We don't want to take any kids on and not be able to do it."
While the club is still looking for a permanent drop off location, they are getting good community support.
"Hopefully we will find somebody, we are still trying to think outside the box of ways we could make it work," said Paradis. "We are are not there yet but we will just keep plugging away."
During this donation drive, CK residents can fill out this form to arrange for a bottle pick-up or a drop-off location.
"We can arrange it any way they want it. But there are no specific rules since we are going to sort them anyways... They can put it out any way they want as long as we are able to pick it up and put it in our vehicle. It's more about us accommodating their time and making it work for them," explained Paradis.
While Bottles for Books 2.0 is running for the week, Paradis said the Club is always happy to accept empties from businesses and individuals as donations for the literacy program all year round.
