By MIA ARANDA

Redlands High School and Redlands East Valley High School’s Black Student Unions as well as community non-profit organization Stronger Together Now have collaborated to host a book drive. 

All books will be donated to Superabilitee, a tutoring service in San Bernardino. Superabilitee’s staff works with students one-on-one to help improve their literacy. 

The book drive started on Jan. 17 and will last until Jan. 28. Lightly used or new book donations are requested ranging from a kindergarten to a fifth-grade level. 

“The book drive was initiated by the friendship between the advisor at RHS BSU and one of our advisors here at REV’s BSU. Both have worked together with Stronger Together Now,” said REV BSU co-advisor La’Rena Garcia. “All three agree on the importance of giving back and taking care of our community.” 

RHS will accept book drop-offs in classroom 450 and the office and REV in classrooms J-33, J-10, J-22 and the office. 

In addition, REV BSU is hosting a raffle with the chance to win a Foodie Gift Basket to encourage participation. Students receive one raffle ticket for each book that they donate. Raffle winners will be announced on Friday, Jan. 28, at lunch. 

Redlands East Valley High School Black Student Union co-advisor Duan Kellum, sophomore Alma Shelly King, junior Myla Gibson and senior Keyvon Rankin manage a booth at lunch on Jan. 25 to collect book donations. For every book a student donates, they will receive a raffle ticket to be entered into a raffle drawing for a Foodie Gift Basket. (MIA ARANDA/ Ethic News photo)

“One person brought like 45 books to the book drive,” said REV BSU member and senior Keyvon Rankin.

Fellow REV BSU member and senior Timothy Berry adds, “Some teachers have brought like over 60.”

REV BSU will be in the quad at lunch collecting book donations until the end of this week. 

As of Jan. 25, REV BSU has collected approximately 150 books from students and staff. 

On Sat., Jan. 22, the community had the opportunity to drop-off books in downtown Redlands from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., in which 100 books were collected, according to Garcia. 

The book drive ends on Friday, Jan. 28.