BetterHealth store is book donation drop-off point for non-profit

BetterHealth Markets & Vitamin Stores today announced that it has partnered this back-to-school season with Beyond Basics to host a book drive to benefit the non-profit.
The drive started Aug. 17 and will continue through Sunday, Sept. 20.
Customers may stop by any of BetterHealth’s 14 locations across southeast Michigan and Lansing — including the store in Van Buren Township at 10792 Belleville Road – during regular business hours and donate gently used or new children’s or young adult books.
Drop off bins have been placed at the front of each store. No purchase is necessary.
“If a child can read better, they’re going to do better overall — in school as well as in life,” said Pamela Good, executive director of Beyond Basics. “They’re only going to do as well as they can read. Many families in poverty are transient and they don’t have the luxury of being able to transport books from place to place. We must get and keep people reading.”
The books collected will be distributed via Beyond Basics to students and parents in Beyond Basics classrooms throughout the coming school year.
Headquartered in Southfield, Beyond Basics is a 501(c)(3) child-centered, literacy nonprofit serving students in the Detroit-area by providing reading tutoring and literacy support programs – writing, art, mentoring, and partnerships – for students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12 – during the public school day.
In addition to offering these services, the organization provides free books to every student, as well as any parent, who enters a Beyond Basics classroom.
“BetterHealth believes in cultivating health bodies and healthy minds,” said Tedd Handelsman, founder and president of BetterHealth. “In order for children and their parents to succeed, we need to give them every opportunity to do so.”
In addition to hosting the book drive, BetterHealth also will be making a financial contribution to the organization.