The Toledo Area Alumnae Club of Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women will host one of six book giveaways in the country to promote reading and literacy this weekend.

UToledo Pi Beta Phi sorority members will distribute 20,000 books to local children and schools from 9:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 29 in the Thompson Student Union Ingman Room.

The fraternity day of service is made possible thanks to First Book, a nonprofit with a mission to provide books to children from low-income families.

“Only six cities in the United States host fraternity day of service, and we are just so unbelievably honored to be one of the cities,” Natalie Baxter, UToledo junior majoring in nursing and Pi Beta Phi president, said.

More than 150 volunteers from campus and the community will help distribute the books, which are suitable for children and teens.

“Pi Beta Phi believes that reading is a gateway to all of the many opportunities that are offered in the world. Reading takes you places, transforms you, and makes you feel empowered,” Baxter said. “Pi Beta Phi believes that when there is one child that can’t read, that is one child too many. If we just show one child all the amazing things reading has to offer, we have done what we have set out to do.”