We are extremely grateful to Friends of the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library and Janelle Blanchard, president of the group, for awarding Assistance League of Northern Virginia a very generous grant in recognition of our Literacy for Kids program.  Through that program, we provide reading-tutoring assistance to young students at several Title 1 schools and donate brand new books to students through book fairs, books for birthdays and summer reading, and schools’ Little Libraries.

For our Build-a-Child’s Library events, we purchase new books on a wide range of topics that are geared to the reading levels of the school’s students, from Pre-K through Grade 6.  On the day of the book fair, every student at the school selects a book of their choice to take home and keep.  Similarly, at schools participating in the Birthday Book option, students may choose a new book on their birthdays.  We also restock the Little Libraries and provide books for summer reading.  During the past school year, we donated nearly 4400 new books to students.  We will use the grant funds to purchase new books for those same purposes for several elementary schools we serve in Fairfax County in the coming school year.

We greatly appreciate this support from the Tysons Library Friends.  Both organizations recognize the importance of literacy and have the shared goal of promoting a love of reading, especially for the youngest in our community.  We are sure that the many students who benefit from our book donation efforts in the coming months will be equally grateful for their new books.