With the rain this weekend, it might have been the perfect time to curl up with a good book. One area group is trying to get children in low income areas excited about reading.
The children that make up the Freedom Readers are from low income areas of Horry County. Most live in government housing, many of them living in poverty. They meet once a week, led by a small group of volunteers.
"If I work hard at it. I'll be where I want to be," the children chant as they start their weekly meeting.
"It's lot of high energy," says volunteer Jamie Richmond. "They read and jump rope they read and do games, they do all kind of things with reading to keep it fun. So it's not just a boring job or task that we have to do to pass a test, it's something we get to do because we like to read and we want to know stuff."
The kids in Freedom readers are 5 to 11-years-old in grades K-5. Whenever a child attends a session they get to take a book home. To date, more than 40 students have received $6,400 worth of books.
"It allows to them to read for enjoyment. They can read what they love and it allows them to take home books for their libraries which a lot of times they might not have," Richmond says.
If you're interested in volunteering with freedom readers, click here.
