Happy Friday from Literacy Connexus Y’all! We hope to find you all in good faith and good health. Today, I want to talk about Hope Library in Fort Worth.

I don’t know about y’all but when I was a kid, there weren’t many days where my head wasn’t buried in a book. Books were my escape into worlds I couldn’t quite be a part of (I may or may not still be upset about not receiving my Hogwarts letter). Books were also a sign of hope, hope that there would be many magical and wonderful things yet to come in my life. As a adult, I don’t read for pleasure as much as I used to (I do however get to read many, many, many research articles and educational textbooks), but books are still a major source of hope and escape for me.

For many refugees and immigrants, books hold that same magic for them. Books can not only empower them with the English language they need to function in the United States, but offer a mental repose from some of the stress and anxiety that comes with having to pick up your whole life and move to another country.

Karen Morrow, a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship missionary in Fort Worth, recognized this as well, and with the help of some volunteers and four churches, she created Hope Library. Four churches collected and catalogued over 2,000 books to create Hope Library—a small community library designed to empower refugee and immigrant children and families as they master English together. Read more about her initiative here in this article from the Baptist Standard.

Isn’t it a wonderful thing when faith and communities come together? So if you’ve got any books laying around the house collecting dust? Let’s put them to good use during this “Back to School” season!

Donate your unused books to local schools and organizations empowering ESL learners. Start your own “Little Free Library.” Or volunteer to read with ESL learners at a local school. 

Do you have something you’d like to share? Send us a message at info@literacyconnexus.org. We’d love to hear from you! If you enjoy our content please subscribe! Until next time, blessings and happy teaching.