Our Crowdfunding Groups
Cocky’s Reading Express™, USC’s unique and dynamic literacy outreach program, is helping the children of South Carolina love to read, and we need your help! We’re raising money to grow our program and reach new areas of our state. Every dollar we raise will help us to motivate kids to read more and help us to distribute great quality books to families in need.
Cocky’s Reading Express™ (CRE) brings the University of South Carolina’s beloved mascot, Cocky, and USC student volunteers to schools and communities in SC in order to motivate children to read and to ask for their commitment to do so every day. At every fun-filled CRE event, Cocky and his crew share many of their favorite read-alouds with young students, bringing them to life! After reading the stories, the USC student volunteers tell the audience that Cocky has brought each and every child a new book to take home! But…in order to get the book, Cocky wants them all to make a promise – “The Cocky Promise” – that they will practice reading every day. CRE provides a matrix of programs that advance from basic reading proficiency to the levels of literacy established in our family programs including health, nutrition, environment and financial literacies.
We improve the attitude and behavior of children and families so that they are motivated to read more and maintain a home library. We have, to date, distributed over 105,000 books in all 46 SC counties to help children and families start or add to their home libraries.
We encourage college students to become their generation’s leaders. We take USC students, faculty and staff outside of Columbia to show them what SC is really like and what SC really needs. We expect our students to improve SC while they are here and take a spirit of service with them when they graduate.
We support higher education. In many communities, a CRE program is a child’s first interaction with a university. By taking our beloved mascot and USC student volunteers into every corner of the state, we encourage a student to not only graduate high school, but to consider college. Lasting impressions are made on students who will be first generation college students.
All money raised will be used to purchase new books and literacy kits for kids and families and provide funds for the CRE bus. By raising money through this campaign, we will be able to visit areas of the state that we have not been able to serve before and get more and more of our children EXCITED about reading!
Cocky and his crew thank you from the tip of our tail feathers to our fun, yellow feet! You have made a difference in the educational life of a child!
Your gift at this level will provide a new book for every child in a kindergarten class.
Your gift at this level will provide 100 new books and 20 literacy kits for elementary school students.
Your gift at this level will provide a full day of CRE events in a Title 1 elementary school.
