Center for Community Engaged Learning taps area hockey fans for children’s book drive
OGDEN, Utah — Hockey fans are being asked to compete for more than goals at the Weber State University hockey team games Nov. 8 and 9.
WSU’s Center for Community Engaged Learning is hosting a book drive challenge to gather as many books as possible for infants through 5-year-old children in the Ogden area.
Gloria Taylor, a student employee at CCEL, organized the drive partly because she has seen her own 7-year-old daughter grow to love books.
“If you’re given the opportunity to read and parents are reinforcing that, it really does make a difference,” Taylor said.
The book drive challenge began at the Ogden Mustangs hockey games in late October and early November, where attendees donated 325 books. Now, CCEL is asking Weber State hockey team fans to beat that number.
In particular, Taylor is seeking bilingual and Spanish books to help “bridge the gap between culture and literacy.”
Davis and Weber counties have the second and third highest number of Hispanic or Latino residents in Utah, respectively, according to a fact sheet published by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah, which looked at 2020 census data.
The same fact sheet noted children make up 35.8% of Utah’s Hispanic population while comparatively only 27.8% of Utah’s non-Hispanic population are children.
“The young ones really connect with books and hopefully, as they get older, they’ll want to continue to read,” Taylor said.
Whichever team’s fans gather the most books will get $1 off soft drinks for the first 300 customers at the next home game at the Weber County Ice Sheet. For WSU hockey, that will be Nov. 21, and for the Mustangs, that will be Nov. 29.
The books will be distributed to the community through a partnership with the Utah United Way, Davis County Head Start and Ogden-Weber Community Action Partnership.
Anna Burleson, Marketing & Communications
- Contact:
Rachel Badali, news coordinator
801-626-7362, rachelbadali@weber.edu