14th Annual WXELTV/PBS KIDS Holiday Book Drive launched on Nov. 28, 2011
West Palm Beach–In the traditional spirit of giving, the 2011 WXELTV/ PBS KIDS Holiday Book Drive (14th Annual) launched following the Thanksgiving holiday on Monday, November 28th and it will continue through Friday, December 30th. The drive benefits the WXEL PBS KIDS/Ready To Learn service (RTL)—the early childhood educational service which is public television’s contribution toward our nation’s most urgent educational goal: preparing children for success in school, particularly in reading skills, through the reach of public broadcasting.
WXEL’s Education Specialist, Samantha Conde, trains parents and educators to prepare at-risk children in literacy skills development, always emphasizing the importance of
co-viewing and of the RTL Learning Triangle to caregivers (view/do/read). This facilitation process is based on the award-winning educational and violence-free PBS KIDS/Ready To Learn television programming. The specialist regularly distributes new children’s books (Scholastic or Random publications) on a complimentary basis to designated sites in the community.
This annual holiday book drive will allow WXEL to distribute hundreds of additional NEW & USED children’s books to parents and educators of at-risk children ages 2 – 8. The books collected during this holiday drive will be distributed by the WXEL Education Specialist at sites throughout the community through January 2012. Thanks to the generosity of many individuals and groups, WXEL expects to celebrate another successful book drive. This year’s main sponsor continues to show its generous support: The Gold Coast and the Treasure Coast chapters of the Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP)/www.hftp-florida.org. WXEL TV is pleased to announce that the Hispanic Leads Group – Greater Boynton Beach Chamber of Commerce has joined as a sponsor for the first time/www.hispanicleadsgroup.com.
Additional sponsors which will serve as collection sites for this year’s book drive include the following: Plastridge Insurance Agency/www.plastridge.com in Delray Beach at 820 N. Federal Hwy. (1-800-290-1143) and Hoffman’s Chocolate Shoppes at: 888-281-8800
Once again, WXEL’s collection site will be located at the WXEL studios in the lobby, weekdays between November 28th and December 30th. The studios are located at
3401 S. Congress Avenue, Boynton Beach (Monday – Friday, 9:00am – 5:00pm);
561-737-8000. Again, this year’s drive collects both NEW and USED children’s books, including Scholastic/Random House publications, for children ages 2 – 8.
For more information, please contact the WXEL Community Affairs Department at
561-737-8000 x 4406 or send a message to Samantha Conde at education@wxel.org.
Thank you for your support.
About WXEL TV
WXEL-DTV42, the area’s public television station, signed on the air in 1982. WXEL Television is affiliated with PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service. Digital TV42 airs shows serving the educational, cultural and entertainment needs of the community with acclaimed national programming such as The News Hour with Jim Lehrer and local programming, including Around Town with Howard Kaye. Digital TV42-1 airs PBS programming, digital TV42-2 airs Create, digital 42-3 airs V-me (Spanish-language educational television), and digital TV42-4 airs The Florida Channel and T.E.N. (The Education Network/School District of Palm Beach County).
*Source: January 10/January 11 WXEL Internal Reports