Nonprofit marks 100,000th book distributed to kids
BelieveNBooks has reached a milestone. ● The Southwest Florida nonprofit recently announced it had distributed its 100,000th book to underprivileged children. ● It was founded a few years ago by Natasha Agarwal, who at the time was a 14-year-old eighth-grader inspired to create a mechanism that could provide underprivileged children with reading materials during the pandemic.
“I started BelieveNBooks as an eighth-grader, and it’s incredible knowing that we have collected and distributed 100,000 books in just three years,” said founder Natasha Agarwal, now a 17-year-old junior at Canterbury School in Fort Myers, in a news release. “This is only the beginning. We are looking to build momentum by adding more corporate sponsors and community partners, and hopefully expand into other regions of Florida and beyond.”
The 100,000th book was distributed March 11 at Grace Place for Children & Families in Naples, where Zyanya Barranco was handed a hard-bound copy of Rachel Renée Russell’s “Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life” in front of a 3D book backdrop surrounded by a colorful balloon arch.
“I’m kind of surprised and kind of shocked,” 9-year-old Zyanya said after being handed the 100,000th book.
“Having a home library is crucial to a child’s success in reading and in school, and we find many of the families that come to Grace Place do not have books in the home,” said Diane Pontin, chief learning officer at Grace Place. “It’s really a great gift to be able to help families building their home learning environment and their home libraries, so partnering with BelieveNBooks has been a real benefit to our programs, our students and our families.”
BelieveNBooks helps coordinate book drives for schools, churches, scouting groups, neighborhood associations, sports teams and civic groups. Visit BelieveNBooks.org to learn more.
