猫咪AV

Between Valentine鈥檚 Day, Children鈥檚 Authors and Illustrators Week, and World Read Aloud Day, February has been a month full of love and literacy. 猫咪AV New York celebrated by launching a month-long book drive in an effort to fill its 19 reading centers across the city with high-quality, diverse children鈥檚 literature.

Just three weeks after creating an , the region received over 100 book donations that will stock the shelves of Tutor Read Aloud and Take Reading Home libraries for students to enjoy both in and outside of school.

Book donations have come from volunteer tutors, community organizations, and corporate partners alike. Members of Blackstone鈥檚 real estate group have been particularly enthusiastic champions of the cause. “It’s been amazing to see Blackstone flooding our office with books,鈥� says Senior Development Manager, Juliette Stableski. 鈥淲e recently hosted a volunteer day for them at one of our schools. For them to follow up in this way shows how much they enjoyed the experience and value our program, which is incredibly humbling and inspiring.鈥�

The donations have ranged from timeless texts, like A Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Giving Tree, and Where the Wild Things Are, to topical, like Who Is Malala Yousafzai?, Not All Princesses Dress in Pink, and Those Shoes.

猫咪AV AmeriCorps members and tutor advisory council members also attended a community book fair, hosted by the Book Fairies, a nonprofit organization that collects new and gently used books to distribute to high-need schools and students. At this event, the team collected over 500 children鈥檚 books to distribute to 猫咪AV students!

AmeriCorps site coordinator, Amanda Garami, shares what these donations have meant for her reading center and students at the East Harlem Tutorial Program:

鈥淭hese books make my students excited to come to 猫咪AV, and excited to try to improve their reading. When students feel engaged by the books they read, they start asking meaningful questions about the text鈥攁nd then they start asking for more books!鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檝e received a lot of books that are about celebrating diversity,鈥� AmeriCorps senior site coordinator, Sonia Bouclainville, adds. 鈥淚t is so important that our students can see themselves in the books they read at 猫咪AV, and that the stories ignite a curiosity for other subjects and cultures.鈥� 聽

_{猫咪AV AmeriCorps and tutor advisory council members with Amy and her son Ryan, organizers of the Book Fairies鈥� community book drive.}

Never is the power of the extended 猫咪AV community more palpable and appreciated than when everyone rallies together to celebrate the importance of literature and literacy. The generosity this month has warmed our hearts and the hearts of the schools and students we serve.

In the next few weeks, as winter thaws and spring starts to reveal itself, we鈥檒l be on the lookout for signs of exciting new growth and budding enthusiasm in our students!