United Way of Wyoming Valley launches 'Million Minute Challenge'

Mar. 23—WILKES-BARRE — The award-winning author of Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, Green Eggs and Ham and dozens of other children's books— Dr. Seuss — once said, "The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."

The United Way of Wyoming Valley has been a fan of Dr. Seuss for a very long time and is putting his wisdom into action.

In celebrating National Read Across America Week, which recognizes Dr. Seuss' birthday, the United Way launched its 2nd annual "Million Minute Challenge" on March 1, to raise awareness about the importance of reading, particularly among young children.

"Ever since we adopted our focus on childhood poverty, we believe education remains the best pathway out of poverty," said Bill Jones, President and CEO of the United Way of Wyoming Valley. "Reading proficiency is critical to a good education and we will do all we can to promote good reading skills. If kids read well, they are more likely to do well."

The Million Minute Challenge is the organization's largest annual reading challenge. All students and members of the community are welcome to participate in this challenge.

The goal is for Wyoming Valley readers to pledge and read 1,000,000 minutes by the end of March. Last year, 1.2 million minutes were pledged and the United Way is expecting to exceed that amount this year.

Jones said that the pandemic has really impacted reading proficiency in almost all of our local schools, especially in the earlier grades. He said the Million Minute Challenge is meant to be a fun way to engage students and others in reading.

The United Way also created a video series called "Community Helpers," featuring local people reading children's books and describing their occupations. The series allows children to observe these guest readers in their work environments and helps to explain why reading is important to succeeding.

The videos include a firefighter, police officer, doctor, dentist, a judge, utility and construction workers, and other professions. The Community Helpers video series can be found on United Way's website and social media pages.

To participate in the Million Minute Challenge, please go to — unitedwaywb.org/mmc — to fill out the pledge form and log minutes to be read for the remainder of the month of March. Participants are asked to use #UWWVMillionMinute if participating in the challenge and posting on social media.

For more information, contact Ashley Winslow, Director of Community Impact, at — AWinslow@unitedwaywb.org.

Reach Bill O'Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.