BILLINGS - A little celebration during the first week of school and a chance to inspire and help kids.
Q2 kicked off its campaign on Wedensday for the 3rd annual "If You Give a Child a Book" program.
The campaign is a team effort with book publisher Scholastic and the Scripps Howard Foundation.
The idea is let kids pick out 10 books to take home and hone their reading skills.
Barbecue Bonanza kicked off the fundraiser with a little summer fun at KTVQ.
As incentive to raise money for the program, management let employees and their families take their best shots at dunking them.
"I'm getting in the dunk tank," said Justin Martin, KTVQ general manager. "Our news director is getting in the dunk tank. Our chief engineer is getting in the dunk tank. Our director sales. And we brought back a special guest, Scott Breen, who's actually going to get in."
The larger the donation, the more pitches thrown. Last year the campaign raised enough to buy 4,000 books to give to kids who might not have access to books in kindergarten through fifth grade.
"When they take it home and they read it, the chance of success later in life is way higher," Martin said. "There's been many studies that on that, so we're just trying to help get more books in the hands of kids in their homes."
And at home, it's an excellent time for parents and kids.
"One of my favorite books that I used to read with my daughter was "High Five," Martin said. "We used to sit there and as you read it your inflection is different and you're kind of sitting with your kid and you have that experience. And then that kid gets a chance to hold that book and read it.
Even in these times of technology, the kids get excited about picking out 10 brand new books.
"You get to see their faces light up," Martin said. "It's an awesome experience and it really touches your heart."
Next week the public part of the campaign starts and more information is available on the Scripps website.
