Reading is knowledge: Rose Pest Solutions, Northwestern University, Chicago Wolves and Bernie’s Book Bank work together
Chicago, IL (January 20, 2022) — It seems like Little Miss Muffet and the Very Hungry Caterpillar would be topics that Rose Pest Solutions, www.rosepestcontrol.com would recommend to young readers, but it’s much more than that. Reading is knowledge. And knowledge is power. Empowering youth in the communities Rose serves is one of the ways the company gives back.
“It’s definitely a good start for young kids learning to read,” said Janelle Iaccino, a bug expert at Rose Pest Solutions. “But we go further to help kids build a strong reading foundation because knowledge is power. We all want to help make stronger, smarter kids in the communities we serve,” he added.
That’s why, for the fourth year, Rose has partnered with Northwestern University and the Chicago Wolves to raise literacy awareness and help get books into the hands of underserved communities through Bernie’s Book Bank, www.berniesbookbank.org.
“Childhood has a fragile window where you can make a difference by reading physical books,” Iaccino said. We also want to be a part of it,” he added.
Over 27,000 books have been donated through books in buckets!
The Books for Buckets campaign, https://nusports.com/sports/2018/9/11/books-for-buckets.aspx was created in 2018 by Northwestern Athletics and Rose Pest Solutions to help promote literacy. Over the past three fall and winter sports seasons, Northwestern Men’s Basketball and Rose have partnered together to host community book drives, fan contests and three-point drives, among other activities.
Books for Buckets has several tactics for promoting literacy. For every three points during NU Men’s Basketball home games, Rose donates 12 sets of books through Bernie’s Book Bank. Rose’s Chicago, Wheeling, Northfield and Lombard Illinois locations are official book donation sites for Bernie’s Book Bank. For every 6 books donated during the basketball season, donors will receive a Northwestern men’s basketball ticket. So far, more than 26,000 books have been donated through Books for Buckets.
Each year’s donations build on the success of the previous year, and in the 2020/21 Football Postseason, Rose has implemented an expansion of Books for Buckets, called Books for Boots, where Rose donates 12 books for every Extra Point or Field Goal by Northwestern. The Big Ten Championship Game and the Citrus Bowl. This resulted in an additional 84 books being donated to Bernie’s Book Bank.
COVID didn’t stop the Mission
During the 2020-21 basketball season, the Books for Buckets campaign focused on a virtual literacy program to promote reading at home among children in grades K-8 who are at home during the pandemic. All participants who read age-appropriate books during November 2020 had the opportunity to receive Northwest Athletics and Rose Pest Solutions gifts and special discounts from local businesses such as Culver’s of Skokie and Chick-fil-A Old Orchard.
More than 240 local Chicagoland students participated in the 2020 Virtual Literacy program, reading 1,718 books during the month of November. The program was so popular during the pandemic that even though kids are back in school, it’s coming back in the spring of 2022. This year, Rose plans to reach hundreds more children in surrounding community schools.
Rose & the Chicago Wolves enter their fifth season together
Rose also encourages families to participate in Score for Charity with the Chicago Wolves. For every Save a Wolves goalkeeper makes to prevent the other team from scoring, Rose will donate a set of books to Bernie. In exchange for book donations throughout the season, donors will receive Wolves tickets.
“We recently presented two checks to Bernie’s, one for $2,400 from our program with NU Sports and another for $2,100 from our last seasons program with the Wolves. It feels great to be a part of such an awesome community effort.” Iacchino said.
For information on how your school can participate, visit www.rosepestcontrol.com.