450,000 books! Your generosity has gifted almost half a million children’s books to local families over the last 30 years!
That is a milestone worth celebrating, and your engagement is more important now than ever. Literacy rates continue to decline, and new research reveals that millions of parents are not reading to their young children. Times are tough for nonprofits, and FRP is no exception. Our donations and grants are decreasing faster than we can replace them. All the while, the impact of the programs you support has grown immensely. Will you donate today and ensure that we can continue to grow a love of reading in the next generation?
Families’ budgets are stretched to the max, and as a result, the Bright Red Bookshelves are sharing more books than ever before. FRP programs are crucial to ensuring that all children in our community have access to high-quality books to build their own collection. I talked with a parent recently who told me that almost all of their children’s books came from FRP, and that without those free resources, they simply would not have books at home. In recent months, we have seen a big uptick in usage of the bookshelves, and we are struggling to meet the need. Will you make a gift today to make sure that all local children have access to books to keep, no matter their circumstances?
A few weeks ago, I met a new foster mom at The Nook, and her experience reminded me why this work is so important. Jody is in her late 60s and was suddenly tapped to care for an infant. She told me how she has struggled to connect with other caregivers, being 30 years their senior, and how overwhelmed she was caring for an infant with developmental challenges. Jody found The Nook by accident, and it quickly became an integral part of her life. She brings the baby in to meet with her physical therapist, and she has made several new friends here. She also discovered that The Nook was a great place to host supervised visits with the baby’s biological parents. During those sessions, Jody spends time picking out new books to take home. Her dogs tend to chew them up, so she does not feel comfortable borrowing books from the library. Jody knows that books from FRP are theirs to keep, so she does not have to worry about damaging them!
During one of my chats with Jody, she shared her confusion with all the new technology being marketed to infants and toddlers. We talked about the benefits of good-old-fashioned read-aloud and playtime with caregivers, and Jody felt validated in discouraging the baby’s parents from offering her a cell phone for entertainment. I directed Jody to our “Caregiver Corner” archives, where she could find short and easily digestible articles written by our staff. She was excited to have something simple to share that explained the benefits of play and reading. Your dollars help us to spread the word that reading with infants and toddlers is vital to their development. She first came in feeling deflated and overwhelmed, and left with a smile on her face and books in her arms. And she has been back every few days since!
That is the power of the work that you are supporting at Family Reading Partnership. You are putting books into little hands and uplifting caregivers as they navigate parenting in complicated times. Your donations are the driving force behind this meaningful work, and we can’t do any of it without you. Funding is drying up, as overall nonprofit giving has plummeted in recent years. We are looking at serious downsizing in the coming months, but you can help to keep the books flowing to our community with a year-end donation.
The bottom line is hard to hear. We can no longer maintain our current physical location. Our heating and cooling system needs a complete replacement, and in shopping malls, that is the responsibility of the tenant. We are not in a financial position to cover that cost, and we would not use your generous donations to invest in property that we do not own. Unfortunately, there are no other spaces in the mall that suit our needs and fit our budget. The Nook has been critical to fulfilling our mission over the last three years, and we are so sad to leave it behind. We are searching high and low for a new space that might allow us to offer the same level of services to local caregivers. Commercial rent in Tompkins County is generally out of our reach, but we are hopeful that the right solution will emerge. We are talking with collaborators to see if there is a way to join forces, but it is a difficult time for nonprofits to take risks.
Will you help us to weather this storm and reimagine our work with fewer resources? If you have questions, concerns, or ideas, I am happy to talk with you. You can reach our offices at 607 277 8602 or email me directly at amber@familyreading.org.
With gratitude for all you do,
Amber Smith
Executive Director