Volunteers are the heart of Make Way for Books and their dedication and willingness to our community truly inspires us every day. This week, we celebrated our wonderful and generous volunteers so we have been spending some time reflecting on just how important our volunteers have been to Make Way for Books.
Over the past 20 years, Make Way for Books has had thousands of volunteers help us achieve our mission by contributing their passion and unique gifts to build a brighter future for children in our community. The support of our volunteers has been essential to helping Make Way for Books to grow, to meet our goals, to reach thousands of children, families, and educators with programming, and to give away hundreds of thousands of books over the past 20 years. We have the wonderful privilege of working with incredible volunteers from all walks of life, with varying abilities, and with different reasons for volunteering. What shines through is the incredible generosity of our volunteers’ hearts. From Storytime Volunteers to Blue Book House volunteers, office volunteers, program volunteers, event volunteers, and board members, we are incredibly grateful every day to have such incredible humans among us. And while it is impossible to list every unique contribution from our volunteers, we want them to know how valued and appreciated they are!
The words of our volunteers are a daily inspiration:
“Volunteering with Make Way for Books has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my life,”
“I have seen children’s eyes light up as they are handed their very own brand-new book — their first book.”
“The children are happy to see me when I walk in. They run up with hugs and smiles, and they want to show me their new shoes, t-shirt, or haircut. When I bring a new book, they’re so involved in the story that they guess what might happen next. When I bring a book I’ve brought before, I hear recognition and “Oh, that’s my favorite!” They’re excited when I’ve brought back a favorite book. They remember the story and can do the sounds, voices, and/or repeated phrases along with me. They see themselves as the characters in the story. They point to the pages and say, “That’s me.” “I’m the pink dinosaur.” I’m the green dinosaur.” ‘I’m that one.” “I’m that girl/boy.”
Thank you to our volunteers for your generosity, laughter, joy, and inspiration! Thank you for being a part of Make Way for Books! And special thanks to Comcast and Tucson Electric Power for generously sponsoring our Volunteer Appreciation Brunch.
