June 24, 2021
By Shayna Patel, Book Harvest Communications Intern
Youth Ambassadors of Service (formerly General Services Foundation), a student-led service organization in the Triangle, was born at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic with the aim to guide high school students who wanted to serve their community, but simply didn’t know where to start. Over the past year this small club has grown to a large community organization that is on their way to raise $10,000 for various local causes through bake sales, game nights, holiday gift sales, and more!
Book Harvest was their first connection in the service world and has stayed one of the strongest. The organization’s members have gained familiarity with the Book Harvest team and have found a shared passion for providing children in the area with access to books and literacy support.
A team of YAS members have been working since January on their biggest project yet, the 2021 Book Harvest Read-A-Thon! This entirely virtual Read-A-Thon for elementary, middle, and high school aged children will run from Saturday, June 26th to Sunday July, 11th. Children have the chance to attend fun mini-events such as Crafting Sessions and Storytimes, as well as be entered in several giveaways and raffles to win gift cards to popular local shops and restaurants. They also have the opportunity to win exciting prizes like LED Lights and headphones – the more you read, the bigger the prize! Children can continue exploring and learning throughout the summer in an exciting and engaging way. They can add family and friends as supporters of their reading to help reach the fundraising goal of $5,000 for Book Harvest.
With less than a week to the start of the Read-A-Thon, YAS is already close to raising half of their fundraising goal. That’s enough to purchase about 200 books! Funds raised from the Read-A-Thon will go towards Book Harvest’s brand new Book Box initiative. You can read more about it here.
So How Can You Get Involved?
It’s not too late for children to participate in the Read-A-Thon! What better way to spend your summer, than read your favorite books for a great cause. Click here to go to the Book Harvest Read-A-Thon website where you can sign up. You will also find information about upcoming mini-events, recommended books for each grade level, and the link to the Pledgestar page where participants can log their hours of hard work. Come join us to support Book Harvest and children in our community!