Each year Elevation Church, founded in Charlotte, hosts what they call “LOVE Week” where individuals band together and give back to their communities in an exponential way. During LOVE Week, Elevation partners with non-profit organizations in major cities across the U.S. to provide organized volunteer opportunities that community members can take part in throughout the week. Activities range from building homes to preparing meals for the hungry to stuffing backpacks for local students.
Promising Pages, a Charlotte non-profit and long-term Live Love Serve Foundation partner organization, has been participating in LOVE Week for the past 8 years, and this year was no different. The team at Promising Pages hosted nine LOVE week events in which volunteers cleaned and sorted new and used donated books, wrote teacher appreciation letters and made bookmarks for children in the community.
Eric Law, Executive Director of Promising Pages says, “We look forward to LOVE Week every year. It’s amazing to see the impact the community has when we come together at the same time to achieve a common goal. This year at our Promising Pages LOVE Week events, volunteers sorted and stickered over 9,000 books that will be given to children in need in our community. Additionally, our amazing volunteers wrote 35 teacher appreciation letters, made 130 bookmarks and made 130 Bookworm Buddies to help encourage local children to read.”
LOVE Week did look a little different this year as a result of the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic, and Promising Pages worked with volunteers and the staff at Elevation to ensure safety and modify projects accordingly. All Promising Pages events were capped at a certain number of people to ensure social distancing guidelines were followed and all volunteers wore masks.
David Longo, Founder Chairman and CEO of CBI Workplace Solutions and the Live Love Serve Foundation says, “It’s always great to see the action taking place in the CBI Warehouse as a result of Promising Pages’ participation in LOVE Week. Many of our CBI Associates enjoy participating in LOVE Week events, and it’s amazing to see how the community shows up to donate their time, talent and treasure to Promising Pages. CBI and the Live Love Serve Foundation strongly support Promising Pages’ mission of putting books in the hands of children all across Charlotte, and we are glad to see the success LOVE Week brought to the organization.”
Outside of LOVE Week, Promising Pages has been extremely busy distributing nearly 103,000 books to help children maintain their reading skills while on this extended break from school. They have also developed a new Bookworm Bootcamp program that is completely virtual to help teachers and students continue reading programs throughout the upcoming school year.
Promising Pages is always looking for support and volunteerism from the community. There are plenty of ways to get involved with the organization whether it is by donating books, participating in work-from-home volunteer projects or by supporting financially.
If you are interested in supporting this great organization, please visit the Promising Pages COVID-19 Update page and scroll down to the “How You Can Help” section for more details. Remember, every week can be LOVE Week when we continue to support our community and those in need.
