Comedian Ricky Smith hosts 18-city book drive showcasing Random Acts of Kindness Everywhere

CLEVELAND - Dec. 23, 2013 - PRLog -- The R.A.K.E. charity and Comedian Ricky Smith set out on a heartfelt book drive beginning January 1, 2014, to give the gift of reading to hospitals nationwide. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 1 in 4 children in America grow up without learning how to read. Reports show that low literacy directly costs the healthcare industry over $70 million every year. It also takes more than medicine to have a healthy child. Studies show that 90% of brain development occurs between birth and age 3, including social emotional and cognitive skills crucial to healthy development; the development of these skills impact school readiness and overall academic success.

Honda Motor Co., is excited to extend their Random Act of Kindness by providing Ricky Smith with a 2013 Limited Edition Honda Odyssey which Ricky will drive to 18 cities in the US collecting books to distribute to hospitals in attempt to spread the importance of literacy in our communities by promoting the children reading programs in hospitals.

"The thing I love doing most is good for people and being good too people. I'm blessed enough to be able to have a platform like R.A.K.E and to be able to get the support of companies like Honda and Scholastic who not only understand what it is to be kind, but put real action behind it."

-Ricky Smith

Starting January 1st, R.A.K.E. will be accepting donations of new or gently used books or money to use toward the purchase of new books for children in the following cities: Cleveland, Boston, New York City, Washington DC, Atlanta, Nashville, New Orleans, Houston, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Denver, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Diego, LA, San Francisco, Kansas City, and Chicago. With a successful comedian, Ricky Smith, as the leader and “super hero” of this book drive there is no doubt that it will be fun-filled, consist of random laughs along the way as well as additional Random Acts of Kindness Everywhere. Ricky Smith challenges his fans and followers to make book donations themselves while continuing to share their Random Acts of Kindness Everywhere!

Money raised through the R.A.K.E. initiative will be used toward the purchase of books from Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company.

To follow this book drive and for more information on making your donation visit: www.rakenow.org and follow @rakenow on Twitter and Instagram.

About R.A.K.E.

R.A.K.E. (Random Acts of Kindness Everywhere) #RAKE is a movement started by writer and comedian Ricky Smith to get people across the globe doing something for others with no strings attached.

About Ricky Smith

A Cleveland native, Ricky Smith always knew that he wanted to help others.  His consistent random giving attracted the attention of local Clevelanders and in a short time Ricky knew his actions needed to be a model to inspire others to want to perform “Random Acts of Kindness Everyday”. R.A.K.E. was then born. With the success of his comedy and his charity,  Ricky continues his journey with “Random Acts of Kindness Everyday” as a man with just a cellphone and ID, Ricky Smith encourages the world to do the same!

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