Community Corner

McGinnis Sisters Taking Part in 'We Can Read!' Project to Honor Sandy Hook Victims

Books may be dropped off at the grocer's locations in Adams Township, Monroeville and Brentwood.

McGinnis Sisters Special Food Stores is teaming up with the Student Nonprofit Alliance at Slippery Rock University and local libraries to collect books in honor of the children and teachers killed during December’s shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.

The program, called We Can Read!, asks participants to purchase a children’s book, read it to a child and then donate the book to the We Can Read! project.

The books then are sent to regional child-serving organizations, including Head Start programs, day care centers, elementary schools, children’s libraries and other similar programs.

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The Student Nonprofit Alliance began organizing the project last month with the help of Alice Del Vecchio, an assistant professor of professional studies and advisor to the organization.

“The tragic loss of the children and their teachers at the school left everyone trying to make sense of a world that seems turned upside down,” Del Vecchio said in a press release. “Most of us would like to do something to help, but what? We were looking for a way we could honor the children who were just learning to read and those who taught them, when we conceived the ‘We Can Read’ project.”

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Locally, customers may drop off books at the McGinnis Sisters stores in Adams Township, Brentwood or Monroeville in time for a Valentine’s Day delivery.

The books will be taken to the Mars Library, the Monroeville Library and the Brentwood Library for their children’s literacy programs.

Cranberry Public Library also is participating in the We Can Read! Project.

Throughout January, donations of new and gently-used children's books may be dropped off in one of the “Cranberry Cares” bins located inside the Cranberry Township Municipal Center on Rochester Road. These books will be distributed to children in the Butler County Head Start program by Feb. 14.

Are you planning to participate in the We Can Read! project? Tell us about it in the comment section below.

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