Book drive benefits NeighborhoodHELP families

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.
― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

Dr. Cheryl Holder (left) and members of the Quantifying Biology in the Classroom (QBIC) Club pose with some of the donated books.

Dr. Seuss would have been proud of the FIU students who arrived at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine carrying boxes and bags of books—288 of them—hardcover and paperbacks to be donated to those who can’t afford them. The books include serious classics like To Kill a Mockingbird, Orwell’s 1984 and The Scarlett Letter as well as much lighter fare like The Little Mermaid, Big Nate Goes For Broke and Dork Diaries.

Sixteen students collected the books over the span of a month. The book drive is a partnership between the medical school’s Green Family Foundation NeighborhoodHELP (NHELP), which provides health education and health care in underserved areas of Miami-Dade County, and the Quantifying Biology in the Classroom (QBIC) Club. QBIC is an undergrad track for biological sciences majors that encourages students to be critical thinkers.

“The goal of the club then is to take these students and offer opportunities for community service and to get more involved in the community,” said Mariluz Soula, QBIC Club president. “We have done a medical and school supplies drive for schools in Pakistan, and we’re doing a Thanksgiving food drive where the proceeds will go to Camillus House.”

Veteran educator and NHELP physician, Dr. Cheryl Holder, recruited QBIC for the book drive by pointing out the connection between education and health. “We’re talking about the concept of social determinants of health,” Holder said. “The more educated you are, the healthier you are, the wealthier you are. As they understood the role of education and reading to improving health outcomes, they were on board.”

Holder works closely with Reach Out and Read (ROR), a national non-profit organization, that according to its website “gives young children a foundation for success by incorporating books into pediatric care and encouraging families to read aloud together.” ROR provides free books for children up to 5 years old, but NHELP can’t afford to buy books for older household members. “That’s where this book drives come in,” says Holder. “Now the whole family will have access to books.”

Reading proficiency by third grade is the most significant predictor of high school graduation and career success, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. It recommends parents read to their kids daily from infancy to improve the children’s cognitive, language and social-emotional development.