By Nila Harris
BUTLER — When Northern Elementary School media specialist Tina Record was told that 100 books had been donated to the school library, she was pleasantly surprised.
But when she saw the actual books, she was ecstatic.
The 100 books donated by the newly opened Dollar General store in Butler were high-quality, high interest, nonfiction books.
“That is almost my whole (yearly) budget,” Record gushed.
The books would easily cost $10 to 14 or more each, she said.
Butler DG general manager Nicole Phillips explained that when Dollar General opens a store in a community, it donate books to a local school.
“It’s a really great thing that our store does to promote literacy and keep kids reading,” Phillips said.
DG stores are highly involved in literacy, not only donating books, but also awarding literacy grants to support initiatives for children-adults, she said.
“The Dollar General Literacy Foundation was established in 1993 by Cal Turner and Cal Turner Jr. to honor Dollar General’s co-founder, J.L. Turner, who was a farmer’s son with only a third-grade education,” dgliteracy.org states on its website.
“We are proud to continue his legacy by supporting students along their educational journey.”
Adult and youth literacy grant opportunities, as well as family literacy and summer reading grant applications also are available on the Dollar General literacy website.