Plymouth Magazine-Fall26-DIGITAL - Flipbook - Page 55
So the program grew with them.
HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED?
Building Lives through Reading committed to providing books
to students every year through elementary school. Nine books a
year. By the time a student finishes elementary school, they will
own 54 books.
• Prepare books for distribution to students—counting,
sorting, writing students’ names in the books.
Fifty-four books with their name inside.
Fifty-four books they can return to again and again.
Fifty-four books that belong to them.
What began at Capital View Elementary soon spread to
Edmunds Elementary and George Washington Carver
Elementary. The Building Lives through Reading board—many
of them members of that original 9-on-Line group—initially
funded the effort themselves. Today, the organization is a 501(c)
(3) supported by donations from the community.
According to Capital View principal Ben Graeber, reading
proficiency at the school increased by 10 percent in one year
since the program began. Can that improvement be attributed
solely to students owning books they can take home? No one
can say for certain.
What is certain is that the books matter.
Students are reading to younger siblings, grandparents, aunts,
and uncles. Parents are using the books to practice English. The
roots of these seeds are taking hold.
One Building Lives through Reading volunteer was reading with
a young girl when another student said, “She can’t understand
you. She speaks Swahili.”The volunteer kept reading in English.
When it was time to leave, the little girl wrapped her arms
around the volunteer’s legs and asked when she would return.
To provide one student with a book each month costs just $30
a year. In a little more than three years, Building Lives through
Reading has placed more than 30,000 books into children’s
hands. The goal is simple: add one elementary school each year.
One book at a time, one student at a time, one volunteer at a
time. A library is being built, one so vast it will take shelves and
shelves to fill, tall as trees that sprouted from tiny seeds, full of
books that belong to children. Their very own.
• Hand out books to students and read to them on
distribution day.
• Arrange one-on-one reading with students.
• Donate financially.
If you’re interested in learning more, please contact
Caroline Peterson (caroline.peterson1964@gmail.com)
or visit: buildinglivesthroughreading.org
DID YOU KNOW?
• Approximately 50% of students in Des Moines Public
Schools are reading below grade level.
• 80% of the students at Capital View, Edmunds and
Carver are non-English speakers.
• Middle income families have on average 13 age
appropriate books per one child. Lower income families
have one age-appropriate book per 300 children.
BACKGROUND
During Lent, a dozen Plymouth members, including Pastor
John and Luke Stringer, met to discuss Jennifer Harvey’s
book, Anti-Racism as a Daily Practice. Harvey encourages a
mind, heart and body approach to anti-racism. She nudges
us to question how we can be “good ancestors,” plugging in
with our moral imaginations and actions in efforts of repair
and healing.
Our mission statement at Plymouth states, “As a Just Peace
congregation, we affirm our intention to seek justice and
peace in every sphere of life, and recognize there can be no
true peace without justice for all.”
Through honest and vulnerable conversations, the 12 of us
in the book study wrestled with what it might look like to
grow our commitment to anti-racism as a spiritual practice.
Harvey nudges us to build our moral muscle in collective
spaces by putting our faith into practice.
To seek justice and peace in every sphere of life.
Karen Downing has been a Plymouth member for over 50 years.
She is a retired teacher from Valley High School and is working
with CultureALL’s Open Book program. You can reach her at
downingk4465@gmail.com.
“Faith in Action” will be a recurring column where we meet
church members who embody the teachings of Jesus Christ
in a variety of places.
Plymouth Magazine 55
