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

During the month of August Borders partners with Readiatrics,  the local book drive 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 has established a goal of raising 1000 books for children in the Black Hills and on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

This year the books are slated for distribution by the SD State Dept of Health in Rapid City and given to children receiving services in Hill City, Rapid City, Pine Ridge, Kyle, Porcupine and Ellsworth AFB clinics. A portion of the collected books are also donated to Cases for Kids, Love Inc. providing items of comfort in a gift box for children who are removed from their home for safety concerns, often leaving the dangerous environment with nothing but the clothes they are wearing.

“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.