BILLINGS – Exciting, amazed, and thankful.
Those were the emotions of Ponderosa Elementary School Principal Clay Herron on Friday morning after he heard students at his school will receive close to $16,000 in books through Q2's If You Give a Child a Book campaign.
Just before noon on Friday, that total came to $15,952.
The donations reach Q2’s goal of giving 10 books to each student.
Herron said since the campaign began, anticipation is growing.
“Just their excitement about – ‘Wait, Mr. Herron, so we get free books? We might have 10 free books?’ The energy behind it has just been awesome, and just infectious,” Herron said.
Money raised comes from viewer donations, Q2 employees, a match from the Scripps family, sponsorship from First Interstate Bank, Rocky Mountain College, and Rimrock GMC.
The Scripps Howard Foundation created the campaign in 2016.
“We saw a really huge need when it came to ensuring that kids are set up academically, to not just succeed in school, but to succeed in life,” said Meredith Delaney, the director of philanthropic strategies for the Scripps Howard Foundation.
A Scholastic Book Fair is planned for January and students will be able to pick out their own books.
The campaign ends Friday night.
Donations can be made by clicking here.
