Read Greenville is a community wide awareness program designed to help spread the word about the importance of reading daily. Through a collaborative partnership with local organizations, Read Greenville educates the community about the importance of literacy, provides strategies and ideas for engaging children and adults, and gives the tools necessary to create a literacy filled world for our residents.
As part of Read Greenville, Greenville County citizens and supporters are asked to advocate for and take part in reading daily. Businesses, schools, nonprofits, and organizations will be asked to participate by encouraging their families, employees, and clients to pick up a book! Also, people are asked to post on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram what they are reading and tag with #ReadGreenville.
Fill out this form to request FREE high quality and high interest books for your center. A volunteer from our partner, Christ Church Episcopal Church, will follow up with you.
At Greenville First Steps, we know how important early and frequent exposure to books is for young children. The more books we can put in front of them, the more they will achieve. To help support our communities in early literacy, we are excited to launch an expansion of Little Free Libraries across three zip codes in Greenville County, 29690, 29611, and 29669.
What is a Little Free Library? A Little Free Library is a "take a book, return a book" free book exchange. It is a small wooden box "planted" at a business, neighborhood, school, church, etc where anyone can take a book or bring a book to share. Visit LittleFreeLibrary.org for more information.
What is a Little Free Library Steward? Registered Little Free Libraries have a primary caretaker, called a Little Free Library Steward. The steward takes care of basic maintenance like keeping the library clean and inviting, but it is up to everyone who uses the library to keep it stocked with good books.
Why only those zip codes? Greenville First Steps is expanding services in three zip codes where access to books is low. By providing free Little Free Libraries, we are working to decrease the scarcity of books in these communities.
What does Greenville First Steps provide? Greenville First Steps has 30 Little Free Library kits available for interested organizations (or even individuals) in our focus zip codes. These Little Free Libraries, a $500 value, will come assembled with a post but you'll need to plan to install it. In addition, Greenville First Steps is committed to providing a starter box of free, NEW, high quality children's books (but feel free to add adult books on your own).
How to participate: Fill out the request form and we will award a Little Free Library on a first come, first serve basis.
Questions? Email Derek Lewis, Greenville First Steps Executive Director.
