The Turlock 20 in 2020 campaign hosted its first volunteer effort on Wednesday, distributing more than 1,000 books to school children across Turlock.

The Journal launched the 20 in 2020 campaign in January, urging readers to volunteer at least 20 hours of their time in 2020 to bettering their community. When shelter-at-home orders canceled a planned volunteer event at a local park, the 20 in 2020 campaign switched gears. The Journal asked its readers to donate new books for local children, in an effort to help families who have taken on the task of homeschooling. The response was amazing from individual donors and two specific donations went above and beyond.

The Turlock Teachers Association donated 498 books and local author Audrey Pannier donated 673 books.

“It’s extremely important to be pushing reading at this time, at all times it’s important, but especially now when the kids can’t come in. We know that there are so many students who are still not connected for whatever reason it might be, so this is a great way to put books in their hands,” said Kelly Villalobos with TTA.

“My colleague and I, both well-qualified educators, wrote four children's books with teaching suggestions included. We had planned to market them, but then circumstances changed. When I saw the article about the book drive coming up, I thought it would be a great opportunity to get books into the hands of children and teaching suggestions into the hands of parents,” said Pannier.

On Wednesday, Journal and TTA volunteers distributed the books to families picking up meals through the Turlock Unified School District’s grab ‘n go lunch program at Wakefield Elementary School, Dutcher Middle School and Pitman High School.

For more information about the volunteer campaign, visit Turlock20in2020.com.