Many children now collect books to donate to those in need in places where education often takes a backseat to simple issues of day-to-day survival. But thirteen-year-old Cody Gallagher’s campaign is different. He knows firsthand that books are about more than education alone and that, when read together, they can open the door for a parent and child to communicate with each other.

With help from his mother, Cody has collected books from thrift stores, yard sales, churches, and book sales. He has also conducted two community book drives, raised money to buy books and support a local literacy program, and persuaded transit authorities to collect books in lieu of bus fares for a day. The books he collected have been valued at over twenty-nine thousand dollars.

Cody has distributed these books – more than seven thousand of them – to underprivileged families through a community youth center, a domestic violence shelter, day care centers, after-school programs, hospitals, overseas missionary boxes, parades, and Lights on After School. As part of Heart of America he provided fourteen hundred books to two local elementary schools. He handed out five hundred books at a Veterans Day Parade as well as one hundred and fifty books at a VA hospital and nursing home. He has also volunteered in a variety of literacy fundraising initiatives, including the Energy Express summer literacy program and even visited preschools to read to other children and give them books to take home.

"Providing books to families who might not have them," Cody says, "makes it easier for children and families to learn and spend time together."

To learn more about Cody and his cause, and how you can make a difference, please visit: http://r-e-a-d.tripod.com/.

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