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Read Your World Donates Diverse Children’s Books to Waltham Schools, Preschools, and Community Centers

As the school year winds down, I find myself in full reflection mode. Being the Project Manager for Read Your World means I get a front-row seat to all the ways this organization shows up for kids, educators, and the multicultural book community, and honestly? This year has been a lot.

This year, we connected with schools and classrooms, building more inclusive libraries one book at a time. Most of the world will never see this work. The children holding those books will. The teachers receiving them will.

But what fills my heart most is knowing that we don’t just talk about diverse books,  we donate them. And this year, we showed up in a big way across the Waltham community.

Waltham Boys & Girls Club

We donated books to the Waltham Boys & Girls Club, putting diverse stories directly into a space where kids spend meaningful time after school and during the summer. Every book on that shelf is an invitation to explore a world beyond their own.

Waltham Public School Literacy Fair 

Waltham Family Center

We donated to the Waltham Family Center, a preschool program similar to Head Start, led by Executive Director Jacqueline Herrera. Getting diverse books into the hands of our youngest readers, before they even start kindergarten, is exactly the kind of early investment we believe in.

Northeast Elementary School — Village Bank Grant

Thanks to a generous grant from The Village Bank, we were able to deliver books directly to Northeast Elementary School, a Title 1 school in Waltham.

In partnership with Catching Joy, we also organized a FREE book fair so that kids could browse, choose, and own books that were theirs to keep. That’s 1,600 books finding new homes.

 

Waltham YMCA Preschool

We also delivered books to the Waltham YMCA preschool, because building a love of reading starts early, and every preschool classroom deserves a shelf full of stories that reflect the children sitting in front of them.

 

Shop with a Bulldawg (SWAB) — University of Georgia

Through our partnership with SWAB, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit at the University of Georgia, we donated 30 books and extended our reach beyond Waltham, proving that community partnerships multiply our impact.

These donations aren’t just feel-good moments; they show our community exactly who we are and what we stand for. Diverse books belong everywhere, especially in the schools and programs that need them most.

This work is a team effort in every sense. I hold things down behind the scenes, Leanna, our Social Media Manager, shows up as our voice on IG Lives, and our president, Mia. She’s out in the community, in the rooms, at the tables, and in the conversations where diverse books need a champion. Watching her show up like that makes every long day feel purposeful. 

As this school year closes, I’m grateful. Grateful for the teachers who downloaded our classroom kits, the authors who trusted us with their books, the donors who made it all possible, and grateful to be part of an organization that truly walks the walk.

Here’s to a summer of reading, more book donations, and an even bigger year ahead.

Want to support our work?

Donate here or explore everything we do at readyourworld.org.