Imagine the cold winter season and your little brother or sister wants to be read a Christmas story, but you can’t afford any books for them. You could go to the Next Door Foundation where they have classes and a library where the 8th graders help as their reading helpers. This is the 8th grade service project that will go on throughout the year.

The Next Door Foundation is a welcoming community of volunteers that provides health and well-being classes and their own take-home library. The library takes volunteers to read books to children ranging in ages from 2-4 throughout the week. It is known as a take-home library because when the kids are done with the reading session they get to pick out one book that they can bring home. Bringing a book home is meant to influence the families to read together and build their reading skills. Reading to the children is a wonderful experience and you get to meet lots of little children that look up to you and want a good education. These children may not have it best off at home, but now they have a place to go and practice reading and make friends.

As an 8th grader I was blessed to go on this trip and it was such a great experience I couldn’t wait to share it. I had so much fun reading to all of the kids, especially the books I had myself when I was their age. When our group arrived at Next Door Foundation they welcomed us and thanked us for helping them. We were given passes and led to the library where there are rows of bookshelves full of donated books that the kids can read and two tables with take-home books spread out. We picked a few books and found a place to read, and there was even a volunteer from UWM.

When the group of kids came in and sat on the rug it was easy to see that they were excited to be read to. They each sat in a square of the rug and sang their welcome to the library song.

“Welcome to the library.

Won’t you please,

read with me?

We’ll have so much fun you’ll see

in the library!”

Then they patted themselves on the back and kissed their brain for how smart they are. This reminded me of when I was little and looked up to all of the older and smarter kids than me. I was happy to see they were proud of themselves and excited to learn. Each child got a reading buddy that they read multiple books with and the helpers kept them entertained with interesting stories and questions. After reading a story to my first reading buddy, I was joyful and I had a lot of fun making a new friend. The feeling of having a young child look up to you is amazing and when they give you a hug or talk to you about what they like, you get a warm feeling inside. So, if you want to make a child’s season jolly or just make their day exciting you could volunteer at The Next Door Foundation.