You can give the gift of literacy this holiday season through the Volunteers of America “Your Caring Gifts” campaign. The VOA offers a reading program designed to make young people better students, and it needs your help.

"I like to read every day," says Rasheed Martin, 11.

Martin got hooked on books in the Volunteers of America accelerated reader program.

"The program allows children to read books and take quizzes online to see how much they understand, so it's a reading comprehension program," says Kathleen Eastman, Vice President of VOA Children’s Services.

"Now I can understand harder words and my reading level is getting higher and better," says Martin.

Rasheed likes to share the story of Ichabod Crane in his favorite book, the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow."

"One night he spots this dude, this man on a horse, and you know him as the headless horseman," says Martin.

Rasheed said he's proud of some perfect quiz scores in the program.

"I like to go over the book to get the right answers. That's why I got 100 on my accelerated reader test," says Martin.

Program organizers say early reading comprehension skills help students later on in school.

"In history, in science, even in math and in literature, they're going to be reading in order to get meaning and understanding. If they can't comprehend what they're reading they're going to fall further and further behind in school and I think that's a lot of reason for the dropout rate and the low graduation rate," says Eastman.

And if Rasheed and his classmates meet their accelerated reader goals, “we're going to do dinner and a movie, because it's a very nice thing," says Eastman.

The VOA accelerated reader program is also available to parents who want to improve their reading comprehension skills.

To donate to the "Your Caring Gifts" campaign, call (585) 647-1150, or visit voawny.org.