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United Way Blog

Volunteers Seek to Inspire 50,000 Kids

Volunteers Seek to Inspire 50,000 Kids

Books are powerful. For kids they have the potential to open eyes, open minds, and wake creativity. They let kids visit imaginary and faraway places and find inspiration where there might otherwise be boredom. Kids with access to books are better prepared to learn and think critically about the world.

When you give a child a book, you never know how it might change their life. And that's exactly what volunteers across the country set out to do on United Way Day of Action. In San Francisco, the Twin Cities, Philadelphia, New York City, Nashville, and Washington, DC volunteers gathered to pack summer reading backpacks for kids who don't have access to books this summer. On the National Mall in Washington, D.C., nearly 1,000 volunteers packed 150,000 books into 50,000 summer reading backpacks. It was an incredible site to see.  

After the bags were packed, they were distributed throughout many communities by local United Ways and community organizations. 

Thanks to volunteers across the county, more than 50,000 kids will be inspired this summer. If you missed this year's United Way Day of Action, you can recap all the fun below.

Leave us a comment! How do you think these reading backpacks will impact kids lives this summer?

Video Recap: United Way Day of Action

Live Blog

Read the live blog including video testimonials from volunteers on the National Mall.