One in a Million
Teacher Jennifer Williams is on a quest to give away books—lots and lots of books!
Ask Jennifer Williams if she has any children, and she’ll reply, “Just the thousands I’ve had over 33 years of teaching.” The Danville, Virginia, resident is so dedicated to her kids that she converted the guest room in the house she shares with her husband, Scott, into a classroom for extracurricular tutoring. And then there are her book giveaways, which Jennifer hopes will eventually total a million volumes.
Jennifer says her project began with an observation. She noticed how often kids would ask to keep the books she read with them because they didn’t have access to books at home.
“There’s no denying that you can tell kids who are exposed to books, or have books, by the vocabulary they use, the way they carry themselves, or how they answer questions or retell a simple story,” Jennifer says. “All these things improve with reading. And so it became my mission to give away as many books as I could.”
As for the specific number, Jennifer says she wanted “to do something big.”
To that end, Jennifer gives away books at grade schools in and around Danville—including her own, Chatham Elementary School. She also founded a book group in the Danville County Jail, where participants get to keep what they read. On top of that, she stocks more than 40 Little Free Libraries and hosts summer reading camps—with book giveaways—for disadvantaged city youth.
Since she began formally giving books away in the spring of 2017, Jennifer has handed out more than a 100,000 volumes. And she figures she’s spent more than $25,000 of her own money doing so, though she also accepts books and monetary donations.
Jennifer, who says she inherited her bookish tendencies from her librarian mother, loves “the magic that happens when a kid discovers a story they truly love and then they get to own it and read it again and again.
“Or they find a book that looks like one that they’ll love,” she says, “and the same smile spreads over their face. I love what I do.”
To donate, search for “Jennifer Williams: Joy of Reading” on gofundme.com.