It is always a good event when a group of Rotarians get together to accomplish a good cause. And so it was on Wednesday, July 30th, when the Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club pitched in the manpower to collect thousands of new or slightly used books for Reading by Nine, which is a program designed to inspire the youth to read and enjoy books.
In 1998, the Los Angeles Times launched Reading by 9 in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties. Reading by 9 is a multi-year campaign aimed at helping kindergarten through third-grade students read at grade level by the age of nine.
In Southern California, four out of five third-graders cannot read at grade level. Research shows that children who fail to read by the age of nine rarely catch up later. In many cases, these children may never be able to realize their full potential or contribute and participate fully in our society.
The Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club enthusiastically took up the responsibility and did their part to help these children. The first team of Rotarians met at 11:30 at the main gate, and right away were collecting books. The next team began their work at 2:00 and the last team worked from 4:00 to as late as 6:45.
All enjoyed the chance to be together and some shared the experience of the OC Fair together after hours of hard work at the gates.
These hard-working Rotarians deserve a hearty thanks and pat on the back for taking on the responsibility of collecting so many books, which should help to change the lives of so many children.
