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Last updated on Wednesday, November 21, 2018
(INDIANAPOLIS) - More than 50 Hoosier foster children will receive backpacks full of books thanks to a recent record-breaking 2018 Colts game day Books for Youth collection drive.
The Indiana Department of Child Services this week announced the final totals: Fans donated $1,573 and 1,409 individual books prior to the Colts vs. Jaguars game on Sunday, Nov. 11.
"Thanks to the generosity of hundreds of Colts fans, volunteers were able to collect more books than ever before," DCS director Terry Stigdon said. "Everything that was donated will go toward giving kids in foster care something they can call their own. Unfortunately, a lot of foster children are forced to leave their belongings behind when they are removed from their home because of abuse or neglect."
The Books for Youth program is committed to placing backpacks filled with 25 age-appropriate books into the hands of all Indiana foster kids and teens. This is the 12th year running that the Indiana Department of Child Services, the Colts and Cargo Services have teamed up to host this game-day event.
"We absolutely love being part of the Books for Youth program," said Steve Fugate, Cargo Services CFO. "Providing books to local foster kids will not only encourage them to read but will give them something that's only theirs during a time when they feel like their world has been taken from them."
Since its inception, the Books for Youth team has collected more than 800,000 books and distributed more than 8,000 backpacks to foster children across the state of Indiana.
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