First Lady Crissy Haslam visited Chattanooga on Wednesday, June 25 as part of a statewide swing to launch the “First Lady’s Read20 Book Patrol,” a project through which she’s partnering with law enforcement to help encourage summer reading.
Haslam met with members of the Chattanooga Police Department at roll call to share more about her literacy initiative. Later that day, she and a number of police officers, including Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher, delivered books to school-age children at several City of Chattanooga Youth and Family Development Centers and the East Lake Boys & Girls Club of Chattanooga to encourage reading over the summer and support for local law enforcement.
Penguin Young Reader Group, a division of Penguin Random House, donated more than 5,300 books for this statewide project; more than 1,000 of the books will be allocated to Chattanooga Police Department for distribution over the summer to children who might not have access to books in their home.