Recently, the Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry continued with his mission to ensure that children in need are well taken care of. Curry, through his foundation, Eat. Learn. Play, partnered with Rakuten to ensure that Garfield Elementary school had a new library to start the school year.
“Garfield Elementary was w/o their library for more than 10 yrs… proud to work with @rakuten and @eatlearnplay to provide all the supplies Garfield needs to open their library this fall!!,” Curry posted on Instagram.
He continued, “Hyped these books will include underrepresented stories and authors too. @rakuten helping w/ Back to School shopping and in The Town. You LOVE to see it!! @garfieldelementaryoakland.”
Yes, you read it correctly, the San Francisco Bay area elementary school had been without a functioning library for a decade. As literacy is a major focus of Curry’s foundation, the father of three stepped in and took action.
“We got furniture, arts and crafts corners, age-appropriate books from authors and stories from a lot of different backgrounds, and especially underrepresented authors and storylines that can connect with those kids and give them a vision of what’s possible in their life,” Curry said in an interview with Kindred by Parents. “lt’ll reopen their library and make a real investment in these kids’ educational journeys. Literacy is such an important piece to their success.”
According to the Casey Foundation, students who were not proficient in reading by the end of third grade were four times more likely to drop out of high school than proficient readers. In fact, 88 percent of students who failed to earn a high school diploma were struggling readers in third grade.
“So to think about 10 years without a library in their school was actually kind of crazy, so that’s a big deal.” Curry said in his interview.
Additionally, Curry addressed the need not only to breach the literacy gap for some children, he also stated that there also is a dire need to lessen the food insecurity gap as well.
“Thinking about how many kids rely on school meal programs, breakfast and lunch, and how the need was increased exponentially once the pandemic started, I think we’re still feeling the ramifications of that,” he said. “As school starts back, you want to give kids something to look forward to.”
As Curry says, that he and his foundation are “…trying to be the village for the next generation,” so should we all. Remember, the children are our future and it is up to us all to help them lay a solid and strong foundation on which to build.
Photo Credit: Steph Curry Instagram; iStock.com
