Opening Books…Expanding Minds
According to the National Commission on Reading, the single most significant factor influencing a child’s early educational success is an introduction to books and being read to at home prior to beginning school. In middle-income families, the ratio of books per child is 13 to 1. In low-income neighborhoods, the ratio is 1 age-appropriate book for every 300 children. In fact, 61 percent of low-income families have no books at all in their homes for their children. (“Fifty Top Literacy Facts.” Ferstfoundation.org.)
Camp Hope gives children ages 4-10 the opportunity to read and build their own personal library while attending camp. Laura Brownlow, Camp Hope Manager, explains, “We keep it very simple. Each Camp is able to design their own library and fill it with a variety of books that have been donated by the community. Each time a child attends camp, they are allowed up to 5 books to take home and keep. One of our camps hosted by Aledo United Methodist handed out over 800 books! What a blessing this is for our campers.”
Center of Hope would like to express our sincerest appreciation to all of the individuals and organizations in the community who donated books, sewed book bags together, and volunteered to make Camp Hope libraries so successful!