Readiatrics donates thousands of books for 22nd annual book drive

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Each March, the founder of the Readiatrics Book Drive starts collecting book donations.

Tuesday, thousands of new and used books were brought to the South Dakota Department of Health.

The book drive was started by Darla Drew Lerdal and her husband in 2001 after seeing the need for South Dakotans.

“Well, we visited the hospital one year when I was in leadership Rapid City, and they just didn’t seem to have enough books. They said if a book was contagious or touched by another child, they didn’t feel safe giving it out into their library again, so that’s when we started the drive,” said Darla Drew Lerdal- founder/organizer Readiatrics Book Drive.

According to childmind.org reading to children helps build language skills, learn new subjects, and helps them learn general information.

“We want to be able to provide them with those early skills because we want them to be able to be good readers at third grade to really set them up for success later on in life,” said Shannon Muchow, nurse team lead, community health office.

The books donated are handed out to children who are at the South Dakota Department of Health for a wellness check.

“Then they leave with a book, they might come from homes that don’t have access to libraries or have the resources to have books in their homes. So, this might be the only book they get for a while, and they can take it right home, and they don’t have to worry about bringing it back to a library so it’s a great resource of books for families,” said Drew Lerdal.

When children read it also improves cognitive skills and development.