Literacy Alive!, a Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society initiative that encourages community literacy with fun-filled reading events and programs, is always an empowering book-centric blast for all ages…but each chapter does things a little differently.

Partnering with reading organizations like the Free Library of Philadelphia and providing helpful reading resources, the newly active Drexel University chapter of KDP put on a Literacy Alive! event that their local community won’t soon forget.

Literacy Alive!: The Drexel Way

Located in Philadelphia, the Drexel chapter created an event where people could mingle at their local library while enjoying baker-donated cookies, engage in hands-on activities at various stations, and pick up family reading resources along the way. 

“Each chapter has their own spin on this event, and we wanted to go big,”explained Kappa Delta Pi President and Drexel University student Hayden O’Rourke.

Philadelphia's own 'Read-A-Bot’ even attended the event as an encouraging figure with a love of literacy, and live readings were held during the event which enticed the crowd.

Books for All

Hayden continued, explaining: “The community we served is designated as a Promise Zone by the federal government; which means the community is below the poverty line with limited access to books or reading materials.” 

To meet this need, books were donated from all over for the event, and were available for families to take home! Titles for young readers in grades PreK-4, like the heartwarming Mrs. Katz and Tush, were specifically chosen as to help boost reading proficiency, and get kids back on track towards their appropriate reading levels.

Having books for families to take home was a major goal of this exciting event, and Hayden was proud to say that this particular portion of the initiative was a success! “Every kid went home with at least three books from our table of donations,” he said.

“It was so great to help and to see everyone reading. We want to do this again!”

Learn more about Kappa Delta Pi and Literacy Alive! here.