Thank you to M&T Bank and the M&T Charitable Foundation for returning as our premier supporter of the 2025 campaign! This year, we celebrated 20 Years of Buck a Book!

The 2025 Buck a Book Literacy Campaign kicked off in Carlisle Area elementary schools with an essay contest in November, followed by the reading campaign in January! Students in grades K-5 read books, wrote essays, and collected pledges in support of adult education programs at ESC.

Stay tuned for the exciting results of our 20th Anniversary campaign!

Click here to view the published essays in our 2025 Wordy book, Lighting the Way to the Future! 

The Buck a Book Literacy Campaign raises funds for adult literacy programs while inspiring K-5 students in the Carlisle Area School District to read and get involved in the community. Buck a Book Kids read lots of great books while gathering pledges of support for adult literacy. All money collected helps fund adult education programing provided to the community by the Employment Skills Center.

The Buck a Book Cycle of Community Literacy

How the Campaign Works

Buck a Book Kids agree to read books during the campaign period and gather support from Reader Supporters who pledge to donate at least a “buck a book” or more to the cause of literacy in our community. Participants discover the direct connection between literacy in our schools and literacy in our community. Reader Supporters may be family members, neighbors, or other family-approved contacts. Whether they read one book or 140 books (as one student reported), the kids show enormous pride and dedication in achieving their goals both for themselves and for the cause of literacy. Students develop a true understanding of how their hard work can benefit both themselves and others.

Everybody Benefits from Par-ti-ci-pa-tion

The campaign continues to stress participation. Raising funds for adult literacy is the financial goal of the campaign. Participation means that the student commits to read and gathers support of at least $1.00 from extended family or other community members. Students are instructed to campaign under the guidance of a parent or guardian.

Community Readers

 As an integral part of the campaign, all K-5 students are read to by members of the community during their regularly scheduled library periods.  Community Readers could be anyone from adult education students and educators to firefighters and musicians!  Many thanks to our Carlisle Area School District Elementary Librarians for hosting our community readers and providing enthusiasm and encouragement.

Incentives

The envelope for this year’s campaign gives Buck a Book Kids the opportunity to list all the books they plan to read along with the names of their Reader Supporters. The incentive prizes are also listed on the face of the envelope. Incentive prizes are donated by area businesses, organizations, and community members. Tom Leo of Leo’s Homemade Ice Cream once again leads off our incentives with FREE ice cream for every Buck a Book Kid who gathers support of $1.00 or more! Bosler and Amelia Givin libraries will be giving away free books to kids. Buck a Book Kids who raise $50 or more will receive the new 2025 Wordy Worm t-shirt! Look for your 2025 campaign envelope the week of January 6th!

Some lucky Buck a Book Kids will win the drawings for great raffle prizes! The list of prizes and incentives continues to grow, and we want to thank all our sponsors for ensuring this campaign is a great success!

Trophies will be awarded to schools for the most participation and the most funds raised.
Who will win this year?

Adults in Our Community Benefit

Fourteen percent of adults in Cumberland County have not received their high school diplomas. Many other adults are in need of basic literacy instruction to help them navigate daily life and secure family-sustaining jobs. Through adult basic education programing, students enrolled at the Employment Skills Center become more effective parents, employees, and community members. All of this is made possible through community support provided in part by the Buck a Book campaign.

The top 3 Buck a Book Readers in each elementary school will be featured on a special READ poster. The posters will be hung in the children’s section of Bosler Memorial Library to honor their achievement and to let everyone know that reading is FUN!

Listen to the Buck a Book Cheer below. Let’s hear it for literacy in our community!

Buck a Book Cheer from Employment Skills Center on Vimeo.

Learn why becoming a Buck a Book sponsor helps our community!

Support Buck a Book! from Employment Skills Center on Vimeo.

If you have any questions regarding the Buck a Book Literacy Campaign or would like to know how you can become a sponsor or get involved, please contact Emily Fuller at buckabook@employmentskillscenter.org or call 717-243-6040.

Want to support a student, classroom, or school with a donation?

Click above to donate through PayPal! Be sure to indicate the student, class, and/or school in the message area when you check out!

Thank you to the following businesses and organizations for supporting the 2025 campaign as Buck a Book sponsors & prize donors! Want to become a sponsor? Please join us! Learn how your contribution supports adult education here!

Thank you to our “First Edition” lead supporter, M&T Bank!

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