What We Do

Libraries, Ltd. donated a wide range of nonfiction books to Montecito Community School, Osborne School District. These are used by Montessori school children, age 3 through second grade. Many of the books were about topics that the children suggested and others were decided upon by teachers, after determining which library areas needed additional print reference materials. The school has been working to rebuild and refresh the school library after being closed during the pandemic. Many of the original books were redistributed to other schools.

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Phoenix Annual Report for 2022

In 2022 our Phoenix group funded a request from the Arizona Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics for their Reach Out and Read program. Books were purchased for the clinics in Mohave County as well as Pinal, impacting over 700 youngsters.

Southwest Human Development  used our donation as matching funds for the Grow A Reader program for the distribution of books to low income families to encourage reading and literacy .

Funds provided to Children’s Rehabilitative Services in Phoenix were used for books for speech therapy patients to take home

We  helped  purchase books for the Montecito Community school to rebuild the library after being closed for several years. Desert Foothills Junior High received a class set of The Rise of Wolf 21 for support in  comprehension in nonfiction writing. Encanto Elementary in Phoenix received a set of Magic Treehouse. Sally Hurwitz and I are volunteers a Friends of the Phoenix Public Library that allows teachers to come to our warehouse of gently used discarded library books and donated books for their classrooms at no cost..  It has given us a chance to let the teacher and librarian know about Libraries, Ltd and our work.  Several teachers have already applied this year to get funds for books they weren’t able to find in the warehouse.

Cindy Trego made use of extra books she was not able to distribute in 2020 due to COVID restrictions to give to organizations located in the Valley including, Maggie’s House, Avis Foster Care, the burn unit at Maricopa County Hospital, Cardon Children’s Hospital and to the book drive for Ronald McDonald House.

Pat Heck received funds to purchase books for her great Chaparral High School RIF for St Peter’s Indian Mission School and was able to do the distribution in person to 300 students after COVID restrictions were lifted.  It was 100th anniversary of the mission.  Club RIF and Pat also distributed books at the Mesita Family Shelter in Mesa with face painting and other activities.  Each child received 2 books. Plans call for another distribution in March.

Once again Libraries, Ltd allocated separately $5000 to Barbara Parks Memorial Literacy Grant. The criteria included that the schools have a library as well as qualify for free and reduced lunches. Mr Park funded 30 schools for 2022. LL funds were used for an additional 10 with an emphasis on underserved rural communities. The individual grants were for $500 and administered thru Gardner books.  

Crane Middle School Yuma

Fourth Ave  Jr HS  Yuma

 Cactus Middle School Casa Grande

Copper Rim Elementary Globe

Gila Vista Jr HS Yuma

Mountain View Elementary  Humbolt

Desert Valley Elementary Bullhead

James B Rollie Elementary Yuma

Suverkrup Elementary Yuma

Willcox Middle School  Willcox

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Tucson Annual Report for 2022

In the last twelve months we have promoted a number of children’s literacy projects reaching a variety of communities in the State.

Among them are:

Arivaca Early Learning Center – A community Pre-school in the small southern Arizona town of Arivaca.They serve 40-50 children ages 6 months – 5 years. We provided 2 outdoor reading nooks for the children to read outdoors with a basket of books. They are wooden shelters that are in the toddler area and the area for the older children.

We continue to sponsor our magazine subscriptions to 9 organizations serving over 1000 children, including the Our Family Services, in Tucson, Los Ninos Del Valle in Green Valley, The Arivaca Early Learning Center in Arivaca, the Bisbee Boys and Girls Club,  in Nogales, the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Cruz, the Holsclaw YMCA, Intermountain Academy, Imago Dei middle School, and El Rio Community Health Center.

The Tohono O’odham Love of Reading month- We began buying books for this event in 2021 and the rest in 2022. The event did not happen in 2021 due to Covid. The plan this year, 2022, was to have a number of story times by zoom to different parts of the Tohono O’odham Nation. Tribal leaders and Elders will read stories at each zoom session. We have provided 452 books for about 452 children and adults. Books were distributed in several drive by locations in February and March, 2022. It was very successful.

Manzo Elementary Early Childhood Program

Four PACE classrooms, with a total of 50 children, received books for their read at home program. Students are given a book to keep when they turn in a reading calendar at the end of each month.

Make Way For Books — Libraries Ltd. provided the funding for books to support  their Story Project, in which Early Literacy Specialists integrate bilingual, culturally-responsive book collections into classrooms to ensure  children have many opportunities to explore books in school and at home.

Aviva—Is dedicated to helping children in the care of the Department of Child Safety. We provided books and correlating stuffed animals purchased at Kohl’s for parents and children when they participate in family visits.

Pio Decimo – We provided books and correlating stuffed animals from Kohls for their Early Learning Center. The program’s goals are to increase social and emotional development along with kindergarten readiness.

Los Ninos Del ValleGreen Valley— An Intergenerational Preschool for children age 2–Kindergarten. We provided funds for books for their library.

Worlds of Words Library, University of Arizona College of Education– We supplied funding for a special program, Teen Reading Ambassadors. Teen “ambassadors” are supplied with 5 books which they read and discuss together and then go to their respective schools and lead reading discussion groups. We also funded a second project – Global Story Boxes. Eleven different global story boxes were gathered and made available for teacher classroom checkout.

Salpointe Catholic High School Library– A fire damaged many books. We provided books to help replace the ones lost.