The partnership between Success Won’t Wait and First State Robotics (the hosts of the Duel on the Delaware) began in 2004 with a modest book drive, as part of a fledgling community service effort by First State Robotics.

Since then, the event has grown in popularity, as teams vie for bragging rights (and a really big trophy!) as the Miracle of Reading Education community service winners. Teams congregated for the competition at Salem County Community College this past weekend.

The final tally? An amazing 11,139 lbs. of books!

This makes 2015 the third largest Book Drive in Duel on the Delaware history and pushes the total collected through the collaboration past 71,000 lbs. of books!

A big thank you to all of the teams who participated. Here are the 2015 rankings:

1st place: 1089 Team Mercury 5888 lbs
2nd: 271 Mechanical Marauders 2600 lbs
1626 Falcon Robotics 1009 lbs
365 MOE 947 lbs
10353 MetalWorks (FTC) 380 lbs
3151 Cyber Storm 204 lbs
1640 SaBOTage 41 lbs
433 Firebirds 38 lbs
316 Lunatecs 25 lbs
341 Miss Daisy 6 lbs

The books collected at this event will be used by Success Won’t Wait throughout the year to complete literacy projects for children, teens, and adults. Examples of current projects include an ongoing partnership with the Nemours Pediatric Clinics for their patient book giveaway program, an ongoing partnership with Treasures for Educators to stock classrooms in underfunded schools throughout the tri-state areas, and numerous schools and after school programs, as well as organizations like the Boys and Girls Clubs of Delaware and PAL.

Many thanks goes to all of the volunteers from Success Won’t Wait and First State Robotics who worked together to make the day such a success! Special recognition goes to Duel on the Delaware organizer John LaRock, as well as Matt Papa, Matt McNeill, and Vincenzo Carrieri-Russo, who provided some much-needed muscle!

For more information about the event visit DUEL ON THE DELAWARE.

About Success Won’t Wait

Founded in 2002, Success Won’t Wait, Inc. is a not for profit literacy program based in Wilmington, Delaware. The organization’s mission is to encourage reading, particularly by children.

Success Won’t Wait volunteers organize used book drives, calling on ordinary citizens to donate used books for redistribution in the community. To date, dozens of book drives have been held throughout the Mid-Atlantic at many different types of locations.

Since 2002, Success Won’t Wait has collected over 900,000 books, with approximately 30,000 of those currently awaiting distribution.

Read now… because success won’t wait!