Rotonda Elks Lodge #2710 used their Elks National Foundation Promise Grant this year to focus on children’s literacy. The project provided books for toddlers up to third graders when they came to the local Humane Society on pet adoption days and pet therapy dogs were in attendance. The lodge aimed to impact the area’s families in need by providing books in the homes. Research shows a direct correlation between low-income homes and fewer books in the homes. They partnered with the local Humane Society to provide a space to hand them out Oct. 19 hoping to reach a new population of families. However, the foot traffic was slow, so they requested permission from the Grand Lodge grant office to expand the location to include Myakka Elementary School, a Title l school, which means the school has a large population of low-income families. They gave out the books Dec. 20 during their Santa visit. They went to the preschool through third grade classrooms. There are 383 children who received new books. PreK through second grade students each received three books and the third graders were given a chapter book. All the books were about pets, pet care and rescue animal stories. The books included cardboard books, picture books and books for leveled readers to support graduated reading levels. The lodge members were excited to do this because the school counselor shared that some of these children would have received very little for Christmas.

These children picked out books from the book drive sponsored by Rotonda Lodge held at the Humane Society and share them with their grandmother while visiting her house. The boy said, "I picked this book for you, sis!" The title of the book was "I'll Love You Forever."