Kansas City, Mo.-based Country Club Bank associates recently donated 2,307 books to the children’s literacy nonprofit Lead to Read KC.
The donation increases the number and variety of books the nonprofit uses in its reading and mentoring program for students in first through third grades who attend high-need schools in the Kansas City region.
The bank’s Team Impact Committee organized the internal work, encouraging donations by holding contests among individual associates and banking centers throughout the metro. Committee members then collected and delivered the books to Lead to Read.
Lead to Read KC utilizes community volunteers, including dozens of Country Club Bank employees, to read one-to-one with students during the lunch hour. The nonprofit offers a tutoring program, and oversees a community bank distribution initiative and author visit program. Lead to Read KC has distributed more than 30,000 books throughout the Kansas City metro since 2011.
“Lead to Read KC changes lives,” said Mary O’Connor, executive vice president and Lead to Read KC board member for the $2.3 billion Country Club Bank. “We do not have to travel the world — or even the country — to positively assist others in need. Lead to Read is changing the trajectory for children right here in Kansas City, offering brighter futures
through early education, creating opportunity for economic equity and laying the
groundwork for a stronger workforce at the same time.”