I just love how “cosmic dots” connect to bring people together so that good things can happen to help people in need.

Dennis and Glenda are our dear friends from Nebraska.  They recently took a cruise to Antarctica.  Also on that cruise, was Gary Mlodzik and his daughter Kody, who are from Arizona.  Gary and his wife, Tina are board members for an Arizona-based, non-profit organization “Kids Need to Read.”

The Kids Need to Read Program is dedicated to encourage children to read more by providing books to underfunded schools, libraries and literacy programs across the United States.  They especially target more disadvantage communities.

From their involvement with Kids Need to Read, Gary and Tina have created the Grow Your Library Program.  After they share story time with children at a library, Gary and Tina issue a challenge to them.  If a child checks out a book and reports back within thirty days of the presentation, another book is donated to the library on behalf of that child. A bookplate is placed in the donated book to acknowledge the child’s effort.  Imagine a child’s sense of pride in knowing that he helped get a new book donated to his library and seeing his name inside of that book!

When Dennis and Glenda heard of Kids Need To Read/Grow Your Library Program, they thought of me!  The process of introducing everyone is yet another reminder of how grateful I am for the internet and how it can keep us all connected!  At the time I received the email, David and I were in Rome, Dennis and Glenda were enjoying a ski week in Colorado and Gary had just arrived back to Arizona after a trip to New York City where he met with Penguin Random House, who had just donated books to KNTR.

I am excited to share that 20 copies of Brave Nellie and 20 copies of Lizzie’s Lesson were mailed today as a donation to this wonderful program.  I am so pleased and honored that I was given the opportunity to support a program that helps and encourages underprivileged children to learn to dream through the power of books.

Blessings to Glenda, Dennis, Gary and Tina.  I just hope that one day, the “cosmic dots” will connect and we will be able to all meet!

If you would like to know more about Kids Need To Read/Grow Your Library programs or better yet, make a donation, please visit their website:    http://www.kidsneedtoread.org