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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Read for 15 initiative kicked off Thursday across the Kansas City area.

It is a partnership between Lead to Read KC and the 15 and the Mahomies Foundation. The groups welcomed KC Wolf and other representatives from the Chiefs to Brookside Charter School. They helped pass out some of the 25,000 books donated by Mahomes’ foundation to children at the school.

“One of the big indicators of becoming a successful reader is to have books in your home, so it’s important for kids to start building their own personal libraries and they love that idea. These are not books we want to stay in the school, we want them to take them home and 15 minutes of reading can happen anywhere and that’s kind of the fun of it,” Pauly Hart, Executive Director of Lead to Read KC, said.

“Reading is cool,” Mahomes told the students during a video message played during the assembly.

The Chiefs quarterback also challenged each student in kindergarten through third grade to read 15 minutes a day for the next 15 weeks. They are encouraged to sign a pledge with their parents or caregivers and then have the adults in their lives share pictures reading on social media.