Since 2012, we have partnered with PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro as part of our Community Book Bank program for Well Fed, Well Read. PORCH is an all-volunteer, grassroots hunger relief organization that collects food and cash donations through monthly neighborhood food drives then distributes food to hundreds of at-risk families in our community. The idea behind our Well Fed, Well Read partnership is simple: when families come to a PORCH distribution to pick up food to stock their kitchens, their children get to choose books to fill their home libraries. Together, we’re nourishing bodies AND minds, all at once!
Says Susan Romaine, one of the directors of PORCH, “We are so thrilled with our partnership with Book Harvest in our ongoing Well Fed, Well Read program, especially over the summer months when kids are without access to their school cafeterias and libraries. We bring to the table a week’s worth of fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, eggs, and chicken. Book Harvest offers up to 10 free books to each of our PORCH recipients. Picture it. Parents standing in line waiting for groceries while their children browse through books – all while chatting with PORCH and Book Harvest volunteers. Building nutrition. Building home libraries. Building community. It’s hard to imagine a simpler, more effective way to not only reverse the summer slide, but give our young people a real jumpstart on the new school year.”
But PORCH participant and parent Eva Rosner explains even better the power of this partnership. Listen to what she has to say about why Well Fed, Well Read is important to her daughter:
Many thanks to our friends at PORCH for inviting us to be part of the critically important ways you are supporting so many families in our community!