Chapter 11: November News from Madison Reading Project
It’s another busy month at Madison Reading Project! We kicked off our Community Book Drive this month and have been incredibly grateful watching all of the amazing new books come into the book center. We received an official proclamation from the mayor of Madison claiming November 2023 as Madison Reading Project month.
Our holiday giving season has officially begun! We had an amazing time with our partners from Madison Public Library sharing over 1800 free books with attendees of Madison Hmong New Year celebration at the Alliant Energy Center. Our team is in the midst of packing, delivering and preparing for our major holiday giving partnerships with over 18 schools and community organizations.
Our Year-to-Date Impact
Books given: 102,322
Kids impacted: 83,798
Community partners served: 197
Our Impact Since 2014
Books given: 479,674
Kids impacted: 303,773
Community Collaboration with MSCR
Over the years our partnership with Madison School and Community Recreation (MSCR) has grown significantly. Throughout our year round collaborations, their amazing team of educators have helped us connect us with thousands of kids and families in their programs. We work primarily with the summer and after school youth programs as well as their mobile services Fit2Go and the Art Cart. We have given 2,529 books to kids through this partnership already in 2023.
MSCR is supporting MRP during our Community Book Drive by hosting book wish trees and book collection bins at the West, East and Central locations! This is collaboration at its best and we are so grateful for the work MSCR does in our community!
Community Book Drive and End of Year Giving
“It is those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” –Desmond Tutu
Our 4th Annual Community Book Drive is in full swing. Nearly 50 businesses have volunteered to host a book drive this year and they have already collected hundreds of new books and funds for us. We thank you so much for your support.
What book should I buy?
We’ve got an awesome book wish list to browse through online or you can simply visit a local bookshop partner and ask them what book to buy. And, you can donate that brand new book right there at the bookshop.
You can also make a 100% tax deductible donation and we’ll get the books we need most.
100,000th BOOK GIVEN!
We are celebrating!! On November 15th, we visited The Salvation Army of Dane County on Darbo Drive (where MRP first began!) to give out our 100,000th book of 2023!! To celebrate, we gifted “Whose Toes Are Those” by Jabari Asim to 4-month-old Devon, and they seemed so excited to receive it! It was given away by our board member, Corinda Rainey-Moore, one of our first-ever volunteers. We read the book, and Devon cooed along… It was such a fun and heartwarming event!
We reached 100,000 books a month earlier than last year, and it's been our busiest, most fulfilling year yet. All thanks to your support, our amazing team, wonderful volunteers, and the incredible generosity of the Madison community. So THANK YOU!!
Read more in this article by the Madison Magazine!
