NCCU second-year sponsor for Betsy Book Bus

Northeast Community Credit Union is a primary sponsor of the Elizabethton City Schools Betsy Book Bus.

NCCU donates regularly to the Betsy Book Bus to help support the mission of getting more books into the hands of young readers in Elizabethton. The Betsy Book Bus travels to 13 different neighborhoods in Elizabethton on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays during the summer. The Bus stops along the way and gives out free books to children, from newborns to high school students.

“Kids get very excited when they see the bus coming into their neighborhood,” said Program Director Carla Whiles. “The bus is really colorful, and the shelves are full of all kinds of books. I think knowing that it’s coming into their neighborhood to bring them books they get to keep forever definitely gets kids excited.”

Several students experience a summer academic slide in literacy, and that can be because of a lack of access to reading material or a lack of interest in the books they have. This program is designed to build confidence in reading that will carry over into the school year.

The Betsy Book Bus was launched in the summer of 2018 as part of the Governor’s Books from Birth Foundation. In 2018, the Betsy Book Bus distributed more than 2,300 books to families in Elizabethton.

Visit www.facebook.com/betsybookbus for more information on the Book Bus’s schedule and routes.