An effort is underway to help provide some 2,000 storybooks to SIU Carbondale Head Start students and their families.
The goal of the "Book in Every Home" campaign is to get parents involved in reading to their young children. Longtime educator and SIU first lady, Ronda Dunn is leading this year's effort. She says the book drive is especially important this year because of funding cuts. Dunn says it's crucial for parents to read to their young children. She says you can't put a price on the value of that interaction. Dunn read to a group of Head Start students Tuesday at Head Start in Carbondale.
Linda Flowers is the interim director of SIUC's Head Start program. She says Head Start helps parents and children during a critical stage of the child's development. Flowers says kids develop so much between birth and five years old. She says they need oral language development and literacy development during that time. Flowers says that type of development is important for the children as well as their families.
Flowers says the goal of the book-drive is to provide each of the program's 400 students with five free books that the kids can read with their parents over the summer. SIU's Head Start program serves pre-school children in Carbondale, Murphysboro, Carterville, and Marion.
There are 23 drop-box locations at area businesses and on the SIUC campus. Those locations include: SIU President's Office, SIU Alumni Association, SIU School of Law, SIU Student Recreation Center, Bank of Carbondale, Carbondale Barnes & Noble, First Southern Bank, Murdale True Value, Old National Bank, Silkworm, SIU Credit Union, Target, and Walmart.
