First Lady Crissy Haslam and Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) officers, including Chief of Police Steve Anderson, today delivered books to children participating in summer camps at Buena Vista Elementary School and Hadley Park Community Center. The visits were part of the Read20 Book Patrol, a project First Lady Haslam launched last summer with Tennessee law enforcement to put more books in the hands of children and build positive relationships with police officers.
“Reading is a basic tool for success in school, work, and life, and it is critical for children to become strong readers early in their education,” First Lady Haslam said. “Police officers are terrific advocates for literacy, because they understand that low literacy and crime are related.”
Statistics have shown that two-thirds of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of 4th grade will end up in jail or on welfare and over 70% of America’s inmates cannot read above a 4th grade level (U.S. Department of Education, National Institute of Literacy).
This year, the Junior Leagues across Tennessee are new Read20 Book Patrol partners, joining the initiative to help collect and donate books to sustain the reading program. The Junior League of Nashville has collected more than 750 books this summer, and they will continue to collect books for MNPD officers to give away all year. Penguin Random House also sponsored the Read20 Book Patrol for its second year of the program, providing more than 4,000 new hardback books to be distributed by law enforcement across the state.
“The Junior League of Nashville is proud to be a part of this collaborative effort to give books to children who need them most,” Junior League of Nashville President Jennifer Hill said. “Increasing access to books and building positive relationships with caring adults are great ways to help children reach their full potential.”
Mrs. Haslam has distributed books to children in Memphis with the Memphis Police Department, and she will participate in other Read20 Book Patrol events throughout the state this summer to encouraging summer reading, including visits with police departments in Chattanooga and Knoxville.
To learn more about First Lady Haslam’s literacy initiative, visit Tennessee First Lady’s Read 20 Book Club.
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