Students read to help other children in need

NEWTON FALLS

Early kindergartners at Sts. Mary and Joseph School in Mrs. Julie Stimpert’s classroom are helping other children while they help themselves this school year.

The students are participating in Scholastic Book Clubs ClassroomsCare program, a literacy campaign designed to teach children about the joys and importance of reading and giving and to encourage them to read every day.

This fall each student is challenged to read 10 books, and in turn, Scholastic Book Clubs will donate one million new books to disadvantaged children nationwide.

Through this year’s program, called “The United States of Reading,” classrooms are reading for charities in their home states. They can log onto the ClassroomsCare Web site to keep track of their progress along with their state’s progress.

Books will be distributed locally through three national charity partners, whose mission is to help put books into the hands of the hardest to reach and neediest children: Reach Out and Read, Save the Children, and the Pajama Program.