My October Positively Speaking column has been published at 5 Minutes for Mom - this month I write about reading with your kids. So when I read Lisa’s (My Thoughts, Ideas and Ramblings) post about the nine-year-old that hosted a charity book drive at his birthday party, I thought I’d make him the focus of this week’s Pass-the-Torch Tuesday.
Ryan Skarnulis — a nine-year-old from Illinois — has inspired the donation of over 6,000 books.
Here’s an excerpt from Chicago’s Daily Southtown newspaper:
A few months ago, Ryan decided that instead of the over-the-top themed birthday parties he had grown accustomed to, he wanted a charity party.
He set out to raise 3,285 books to donate to Reach Out and Read, a literacy program that gives away books in pediatric exam rooms to children between 6 months and 5 years old.
“When I turn 9, that’s how many days I’ve been living, so that’s what I wanted to do,” he said at the time. “One book per every day of my life.”
Since then, he’s inspired the donation of more than 6,000 books.
“I’m so happy I got double my score,” Ryan said. “I never thought I would get that many. That’s 6,000 books. It’s unbelievable.”
This is the kind of news that gives me hope about our world.
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Tags: charity, Pass the Torch, Pass the Torch Tuesday, reading
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11:40 am
love to read. Love to read good stuff like this!
7:14 pm
I remember reading about him recently. Isn’t he amazing?
3:30 pm
[…] It’s been a few weeks now since I was able to get a Pass The Torch Tuesday post done. I love looking for ways to catch my kids being good and I really need the help looking for the good because as a parent the negatives can quickly overtake my days and memories. I know my kids aren’t intentionally trying to make me crazy but they just have the ability sometimes to drive me to the breaking point. So I really appreciate these quiet moments of looking back and searching for the good things. […]
11:25 am
I read about this on the net, that is such a wonderful example of kids gone right.