“When I first started teaching, I asked my students why books are important.  “They teach us!”  “They make us smarter!”  “They help us remember!”  “Reading just feels good!”  “It’s what makes us people!”

What is more human than the act of reading or the art of creating stories?  My students knew the answer.  I think my great grandmother, Molly, knew, too.  Her eyes would dance when I curled into her soft body to hear a story and watch the pictures go by.  Before she could even read, Molly had fled from an ugly place full of violence and people who rejected her for what she believed.  Her family eventually found refuge in the United States and, for a time, she raised her own young family in the welcoming community of Strawberry Mansion.

Like young Molly, some of the children from Strawberry Mansion today are unable to afford books of their own.

To honor her memory and her love of learning, we have established a fund whose goal is to ensure that every child who attends a school book fair will be able to leave with a book in their hands.

Please join us in giving to help fill bookshelves in our Strawberry Mansion community.  All donations are tax deductible.

Thank you”

-Lilach Taichman