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'If you can read and follow directions, you can do anything': Mary Nelson, mom discuss reading & hope

Posted at 7:27 PM, Aug 29, 2022
and last updated 2023-09-19 13:45:35-04

OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — "If You Give a Child a Book..."

How would you finish that sentence?

3 News Now Anchor Mary Nelson believes "If You Give a Child a Book..." you give a child a chance, and you can't overstate how valuable that is.

She grew up in poverty. Not always something she was comfortable sharing. Then, seven years ago, the philanthropic branch of the E.W. Scripps Company, which owns KMTV, announced a new initiative.

Mary connected to the cause of providing new books to children who might not otherwise have them because of what her mom said countless times, and Mary learned to be true: If you can read and follow directions, you can do anything in life.  

Why do we give books to children living in poverty?

The Scripps Howard Fund is committed to putting books into the hands of children across the country because we believe that literacy is a powerful antidote to poverty and a critical step in creating a better-informed world.

A significant marker for educational success occurs when most children are only 8-9 years old when schools administer third-grade reading proficiency tests. How well a child reads at the end of third grade can affect the rest of her education.

Through third grade, students are learning to read. Beginning in fourth grade, students are reading to learn, using their reading skills to gain information, solve problems and think critically.

A child who can’t read at grade level by third grade is four times less likely to graduate from high school. If this same child lives in poverty, they are 13 times less likely to graduate.

Since January 2017, the Fund has given away more than 800,000 books to bolster literacy in communities across the country in the form of book giveaways, book fairs and other programs to invest in childhood literacy programs. This will be a milestone year. We will distribute the one-millionth book in the 2022-23 academic year.

When you donate through KMTV, your dollars stay here to purchase books for children in our community.

Watch Mary's conversation with her mom about the intersection in their lives between reading and hope, and how learning to 'read and follow directions' created generational change for their family.

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