Huntington Valley youth clubs unveil vending machines to encourage reading and reward kids

Plenty of people occasionally peruse a vending machine for a sweet little reward after a job well done.

At three branches of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Huntington Valley, children can do just that — the reward being a free book of their own.

“At the club, we’ve seen the difference it makes to a child’s reading skills and confidence when they have their very own books to enjoy,” said CEO Art Groeneveld. “We’re excited to help kids build their home library through our new book gifting machine and give children a new reason to be excited about reading.”

The youth organization has been rolling out the vending machines at the branches with celebrations; this week at the Pacific Life Foundation Branch in Huntington Beach. Already, the Kingston Branch in Fountain Valley unveiled its machine and next week the Haynes Family Huntington Beach Branch will.

During this week’s unveiling, club members who earned kid of the week or month for “exemplifying positive character traits” eagerly chose books from the machine with tokens that club officials said help create “a tangible reward system that encourages both reading and good citizenship.”

The machine is sponsored by the Kupferstein Family Foundation. Other machines are sponsored by Resa Evans and Dave Theil and by Debbie Schroeder.

Local author Latrice McGlothin also read her “Hello, Coco!” for the club members and gifted them a copy of the book.