Midlands Minority Businesses Sponsor Book Drive to Benefit Richland School Districts One and Two

COLUMBIA, SC – Come together in the spirit of giving this holiday season with Minority Business Development Agency — Columbia, SC and its clients for their Rally for Reading book drive, benefitting Richland School Districts One and Two. The drive officially kicks off with SB Connect, a one-day small business training seminar, on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center and continues through the end of December.

Partnering with Columbia-area minority businesses for Rally for Reading, Books-A-Million is providing children and young adult’s books to purchase for donation. Those who wish to purchase a book may contact Books-A-Million Regional Community Relations Manager Jacquie Lee at [email protected] or call the Village at Sandhill location at 803-788-4349. A book drive station will be available for attendees at SB Connect with books to purchase for donation from 8 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

All other book donations for children ages K-12 may be dropped off throughout December at DESA, Inc., located at 400 Percival Road, Columbia, S.C., 29206 and the Minority Business Development Agency Business Center – Columbia, SC, located at 1515 Richland Street, Suite C – Columbia, S.C., 29201. The public is encouraged to participate.

MBDA clients sponsoring the Rally for Reading include DESA, Inc., Metcon, Chao and Associates, Freeland Construction, CDI and ENVIRO AgScience.

Collected books will be donated to Richland School Districts One and Two for the Backpack Food Program. Each week, students who are at risk for being hungry over the weekend receive backpacks filled with child-friendly, nutritious, easy-to-open food. The donated books will also be added to the backpacks.

President and CEO of DESA, Inc., Diane E. Sumpter, said, “As a part of our education mission and community involvement, we are humbled to help fulfill every child’s need to feed the mind, along with the body. Our Rally for Reading vision is to get children to fall in love with reading early on so it becomes a lifelong habit.”