Positively Las Vegas

Actions

Today is National Reading Day! How to get more books in the hands of Las Vegas youth

Posted at 6:06 AM, Jan 23, 2020
and last updated 2020-01-23 21:40:19-05

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Thursday is National Reading Day and 13 Action News is proud to take part in the “If You Give a Child a Book …” campaign with the Scripps Howard Foundation.

Morning Blend Host JJ Snyder and 13 Action News General Manager Chris Way donated 3,100 book to the local nonprofit Spread the Word Nevada this week. The books were paid for by an internal employee book drive campaign.

"Without literacy, people can't read our content, [they can't] engage with us," said Way.

"We think that's important for democracy, to be engaged with our community."

Lisa Habighorst, co-founder of Spread the Word Nevada, says just one book can change a child's life forever -- something she has seen happen through the organization.

"A young lady, who went to C.T. Sewell [Elementary School] and was the recipient of our books growing up, worked here while she was going to law school over at UNLV," said Habighorst.

"She has now moved and is in her career, but it was an amazing full circle moment for us."

This year, Spread the Word Nevada expects to give out 600,000 books to children in the state.

To learn more about how you can help, visit SpreadTheWordNevada.org.

If you would like to learn more about the Scripps Howard Foundation book campaign, visit Scripps.com.