ONLINE: Madison Reading Project Grand Opening
press release: Join us to to celebrate the official grand opening of our center with a ribbon cutting at 11am. We will be joined by sponsors, supporters and local business and government leaders. FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/209317187446056/
Join us for our Virtual Grand Opening at 4 pm and help us celebrate the next chapter at Madison Reading Project. FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/916726519129267/
Madison Reading Project will celebrate its expanded capacity to serve more children with books and literacy enrichment programs at a May 26 ribbon cutting ceremony outside its new Book Center, bordering southwest Madison and Fitchburg.
Following a months-long move of more than 12,000 books, local dignitaries, volunteers and staff will gather outdoors at the new space, 1337 Greenway Cross, Madison, to observe the occasion and eight years of steady growth of providing free books to children throughout the greater Dane County area.
“We’re so excited to open our new Book Center with much more room to store books and package them for delivery to kids who need them,” says Rowan Childs, founder and executive director of the nonprofit organization. “Our previous space was tight before COVID, and then with the increase in demand and distancing restrictions it was difficult to function efficiently. Now we have plenty of room and can accommodate thousands of more books with plenty of room for our volunteers to help and educators to browse book titles for their classrooms.”
With schools and libraries closed and children confined at home the past year, Madison Reading Project reconfigured its mission from providing in-person literacy programs and Big Red Reading Bus visits to one of working with various nonprofit partners, food pantries and schools to deliver books to homes and at curbside pick-ups.
“Our communities, local businesses, foundations, and individuals have been extremely generous giving books and monetary donations which allowed us to give away more than 70,000 books to over 31,000 children in the past 13 months,” Childs says. “This summer we hope to once again work with neighborhood centers, summer reading programs, community gatherings, and after-school events to continue our outreach. Our Big Red Reading Bus is ready to roll again!”
Madison Reading Project staff will offer in-person public tours of the new Book Center at a later date. For now, a virtual tour will be offered on our Facebook event page: https://bit.ly/
Madison Reading Project programs engage children in differentiated literacy activities designed to create a love of learning and building and reinforcing age-appropriate skills needed to develop the young reader and nurture success in school.
♥New Book Center Sponsors ♥
Alphagraphics Middleton
Bella Domicile
Crimson Sun Studios
Grand Appliance and TV
Mary Struckmeyer (Author)
MG&E Foundation
Park Bank
Sarah M. Benton
Sign Art Studio
Steve Brown Apartments
Zendesk
Google
Yahoo
Outlook
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