Stuff the Bus book drive collects 40,000 children's books

Central Iowans donate 40,000 books to Stuff the Bus

United Way of Central Iowa Women’s Leadership Connection thanks the employess of 50 local businesses for collecting and donating 40,000 children’s books to the Stuff the Bus book drive, sponsored by Athene USA.

In the seven years of Stuff the Bus, over 100,000 books have been donated and will be distributed to children in the community.

 “We are very proud to sponsor this year’s Stuff the Bus event in partnership with United Way,” said Grant Kvalheim, CEO of Athene USA. “As United Way announced earlier this week, our community has bold goals for its children, and our employees share this vision. We want to help local students with literacy development – and one of the ways we do that is simply by putting books in their hands and in their homes."

According to early literacy research, within the U.S., access to books is essential to reading development: the only variable that directly correlates with reading scores is the number of books in the home. And more than 80 percent of childcare centers serving low-income children lack age-appropriate books.

Stuff the Bus is part of United Way’s READ to SUCCEED, a campaign launched for United Way's 100th year to ensure all children are reading proficiently by the end of third grade.