Each day, Americans spend almost three hours watching TV. People ages 15 to 24 spend only seven minutes of their daily leisure time reading.
Sometime during February 12 through February 18, local literacy non-profit Read To Succeed is challenging the community to unplug from electronics and read a book. The sixth annual UNPLUG & Read! event was created by Read To Succeed to promote the importance of literacy in Rutherford County. It only takes an hour of family reading time during UNPLUG & Read! week to accomplish the program’s mission.
“All we want is for people to take a little bit of time during the week to focus on how important it is to read a book,” said Lisa Mitchell, Read To Succeed Executive Director. “We’re all so busy these days; it’s easy to forget how nice it can be to turn off the television and have the whole family pick up a book.”
The statistics are staggering: in Rutherford County, 10 percent of adults lack the most basic literacy skills. 44 per cent read at or below the third grade level.
“UNPLUG & Read! is one of Read To Succeed’s many programs aimed at improving literacy in our community,” Mitchell said. “Reading is important to many different parts of our daily lives and this event allows the community to focus on that importance for an entire week.”
Show your support for UNPLUG & Read! Visit readtosucceed.org/unplug.htm to pledge your time to read during the week of February 12 through 18. You can pledge 10 minutes of reading time, an hour or two or three, or your family, organization, or business can get together and pledge hours as a group.
For more information on Read To Succeed and UNPLUG & Read!, or to share your group’s plan for the week of February 12 through 18, please visit readtosucceed.org or call 615-738-READ.