GIBSONTON, Fla. -- The Scripps Howard Foundation distributed nearly 200,000 books to children across the country as part of the “If You Give a Child a Book” giveaway.
In Hillsborough County, ABC Action News teamed up with Feeding Tampa Bay to get some of those books in the hands of elementary students locally.
Thousands of kids at four different elementary schools in Hillsborough County got to choose a book as part of the giveaway.
Through money donated by employees and the community, Scripps, the company that owns ABC Action News, raised nearly half a million dollars in order to put 172,000 books in the hands of school children across the nation.
“A lot of our kids really live in book deserts, they don’t have books at home, so to be able to get a book for them, book ownership is really important,” said Marianne Novelli, Library Media Specialist at Gibsonton Elementary School.
Each student had the opportunity to select a book of their choice to take home, and any leftover books from the fundraiser will go into the libraries at each school.
