This opening statement comes from Scholastic Education’s latest research paper on the importance of home libraries. When children have age-appropriate books at home, their literacy potential increases by leaps and bounds. Childhood literacy rates are one of the strongest predictors of academic, and life-long achievement. The need to increase access to reading material at home, at school, and within the community has never been more compelling.
Fauquier Reaches for Excellence in School Health (FRESH) is on a mission to provide free books to every child in Fauquier County. Through a growing network of literacy allies, FRESH has made numerous strides on this front. Over the past year, the organization has benefitted from over 12,000 book donations, the majority of which have come from McKay’s Used Books in Manassas. This unprecedented volume of donations have allowed FRESH to significantly expand their reach for distributing free books across schools and the community.
Free books are always prominently featured anytime FRESH hosts or attends a community event. In addition, FRESH has recently initiated a number of new community partnerships, with monthly book deliveries to Piedmont Pediatrics, Warrenton Pediatrics, Woodside Pediatric Dentistry, Fauquier Free Clinic, Fauquier FISH, the Department of Social Services, and Fauquier Health. Families visiting these establishments are now able to take books home to keep. As a program of Fauquier County Public Schools, FRESH has also significantly increased book donations for school literacy nights and for teachers to expand classroom libraries.
FRESH’s partnership with local early childhood education program Learning Starts Early (LSE) improves access to reading material for some of our county’s youngest learners. LSE provides books and learning kits during all of FRESH’s summer programming and recently collaborated with Coleman Elementary to donate preschool-aged books for the school’s library.
Earlier this year, FRESH further extended the promotion of early literacy by establishing Fauquier’s chapter of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Through funds from FRESH, LSE, the Fauquier Excellence in Education Foundation, and community members, county children ages birth to five are now eligible to receive a free book mailed to their home each month. FRESH’s partnership with Fauquier Health includes promotion of this program to new parents and throughout the hospital as a whole. Local pediatricians' offices will soon begin program promotion as well.
In the past year, FRESH has doubled book distributions. Since 2016, the organization has given away over 100,000 free books to children throughout Fauquier County. FRESH Supervisor, Kristen McAuliffe notes,
“Home libraries are a fundamental way to improve literacy rates amongst children. I would love for every family with a child in Fauquier County to have at least one FRESH book in their home.”
FRESH is a Fauquier County Public School program funded by the PATH Foundation. FRESH’s mission is to inspire a lifetime of wellness through nutrition, movement, and literacy enrichment.
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