This year, a children's book author took on an incredible feat of endurance. He pledged to run nearly a marathon a day in order to raise awareness about the staggering child illiteracy rates in America, a journey he's still currently completing.
According to statistics provided DoSomething.org, a nonprofit geared at enacting social change for marginalized youth, nearly 1 in 4 American children grow up without learning how to read. Perhaps even more disheartening, "2/3 of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of 4th grade will end up in jail or on welfare," they say, and 70 percent of inmates are unable to read about a 4th grade level.
Dennis Yang has been writing children's books under the pen name Papa Didos for years. Through the Papa Didos Ideals Foundation, Yang and his team are working to fight rates of child illiteracy. Most recently, Yang is doing so by traveling the nation to raise awareness, a trip that'll take him 11,000 miles to complete — all by foot. He hopes to have run the full 11K miles and have raised $1 million for his cause by February.
"Any goal that you set for yourself can be attained," he says. "As long as you take the small steps."
To learn more about his project, visit the Papa Didos Ideals Foundation website. And please SHARE this post with your friends and family on Facebook!
