About the Program

Books to Dreams is designed to encourage children to read by giving them books of their own choice to keep. Through this process it is hoped that they will believe in themselves, dream of other possibilities, and become lifelong readers.

Books to Dreams has been able to give nearly 350,000 donated books to children in need, including over 130 organizations that provide services for these children. It has presented over 500 literacy programs in 13 homeless shelters, established or added to over 60 permanent children's libraries and given thousands of books to numerous soup kitchens and outreach families.

Contributions

We receive donations and services from a variety of places, including individuals, businesses, foundations, CT commissions, the CT legislature, organizations, publishers, religious organizations, schools, scout troops, and the media.

The Books to Dreams creed is that we "never ask for anything." Every contribution has been freely given. We do not solicit or request contributions. This allows us to use most of our effort and energy to get books into the hands of the children. All connections are made through "word of mouth." We are most grateful for the success of this "grass roots" approach.

What Makes Us Unique

Here are some unique aspects of the Books to Dreams program:

• Every book given has a label with a saying to encourage reading and is inscribed with the child's name and date.

• "Reading Buddies" are given to every child. They are stuffed animals with a special tag to encourage children to read every day and start their own libraries.

• Special book requests may be made by every child and parent who attends the Books to Dreams literacy program. To date, nearly 22,000 book requests have been filled.

• The Butterfly Cloth, brought to Books to Dreams programs, contains the name of every child who has attended a program so that these children know they will always be remembered.

• Hundreds of dedicated volunteers make it all possible. Many have been volunteers for years.

We will be taking a new direction, as times, resources, and economics become even more scarce. Starting in January, 2013, books and storytelling programs will be given only to the Manchester Head Start programs. Since 2009, BTD has given 22,146 books to Head Start programs throughout the state. We will need to let the other Head Start programs go. Also, as director of BTD, I will be volunteering at Manchester Head Start regularly, working with the Educational Coordinator and in the nine classrooms.

Another new direction we will be taking starting in January 2013, will focus on the third generation of shelter families we met in 1993 (their stories appeared in the booklet Women of Courage). They have become part of BTD Family Outreach. Over all of these years, we have watched the children succeed, finishing high school and college, starting careers, marrying, and having children of their own. As you can imagine, in these unsure economic times, these families are still at risk. These young children will be receiving books regularly.

BTD was always small but mighty. Now we are smaller but still mighty. BTD is continuing its non-profit status and now more than ever, book and monetary donations are greatly appreciated. Read more...

MORE INFORMATION

• Who We Are

• Grants

• Awards and Honors

• How We Got Started (PDF format)

Some of these documents are in Adobe Acrobat .PDF format. A free Adobe Acrobat viewer is available from Adobe here.