Despite the less than favorable weather Saturday morning, more than 80 participants gathered at War Hill Park prepared to jump into Lake Lanier to support Dawson County WEE Books.

Though several days of rain raised water levels above full pool at Lake Lanier, it couldn't stop community members from participating in the 2019 Leap for Literacy Feb. 23.

While the dock was submerged and debris cluttered the water, organizers were able to work tirelessly to clean off the boat ramps so that the event could go on and raise money for WEE Books.

"I thought it was such fun," WEE Books President Nancy McNeil said. "It's nice to have the support of the community and supporting the program to buy more books. It just makes a huge difference."

Dawson County WEE Books is a nonprofit organization that sends a free book each month to Dawson County children aged 0-5 that are enrolled in the program.

The annual Leap for Literacy helps raise funds to send age appropriate books to almost 900 kids in the community.

In 2018, WEE Books mailed out 9,941 books to 1,028 children.

The nonprofit was founded in 2008 to address the growing problem relating to children entering Kindergarten without basic literacy skills and school readiness.

"We are committed to starting children on the path to learning success in order to help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy," 2019 WEE Books Chair Andrea McKenzie said. "We want every child to have the opportunity to succeed in school and in adult life and give our community an educated, productive and competitive work force."