Borders  Customers  Participate in Book Drive
by Donating New Children’s Books to Readiatrics

 Borders  in Rapid City to donate five percent of the total sales
 from the books donated for this drive to Readiatrics

During the month of August Borders partnered with Readiatrics, a non-profit organization that collects new books for children facing health or financial challenges, to promote literacy and give books to children in need. During a month-long book drive, Borders raised over 1000 books for Readiatrics.  In addition to Borders, Mid-continent Communications and Max 106.FM co-sponsored the book drive. 

The Borders book program provides five percent of its total sales from the purchase of the books donated by its customers between August 1 and August 31 to Readiatrics. The five percent donation raised more than $200 for the drive. That money will go towards the purchase of new books for the program. The books are donated to the SD State Dept of Health in Rapid City and distributed to children receiving services in Hill City, Rapid City, Pine Ridge, Kyle, Porcupine and Ellsworth AFB. "Recently a new baby book donated from the Readiatrics was given to a young military wife and mother who was at the Ellsworth clinic getting shots for her new baby." said Linda Marchand, Director of the Rapid City office of the SD Dept of Health Department. " The new mom was very excited because they could not afford much for the new baby. The mom remarked that she was happy her daughter now had a blanket, a stuffed toy bear, and a new book to take home."

“We are very excited to work with Readiatrics for this book drive,” said Tammy Barrows, local Borders General Manager. “Literacy is a cause near and dear to us, and as a bookstore, we embrace our role as a contributing member of the community.  We believe that every child in need should experience the joy of owning their own book, to aid in the development of their imagination and open up new worlds for them.  As part of this community, we want to do what we can to make sure that the children in this area have the tools necessary to shape and define their lives.  We feel that reading books certainly helps with this.” 

“The Readiatrics program feels very fortunate to have the partnership of Borders to supply new books to the program. With additional support from Mid-continent Communications and MAX106 FM Radio to raise awareness for the drive, this was an outstanding success.  We were hoping to raise 300 new books, and we got 1,000!,” said Darla Drew Lerdal, founder and organizer of Readiatrics.