Chattanooga non-profit gives books to students in need

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — A recent UTC grad started a non-profit organization to make sure all kids have access to books.

Kelsey Butler looked through boxes of books in a Chattanooga warehouse. Sometimes she reads and gets lost in them.

“It is really hard when I am going through them because I do love children’s books,” said Butler, the founder of HomeBound Books.

Butler partnered with different business to make the program possible.

“It’s in the process of becoming a non-profit, so I paired with seven local businesses to collect children’s book. When we get enough we place bookshelves into the local elementary schools. They have a no strings attached way to have a book at home every night,” Butler said.

She got this idea while student teaching.

“I worked with seven kids for thirty minutes a day doing a full out reading coaching and through questioning I found out three of them didn’t have any books at home. I realized that is probably a reality for some other kids as well,” Butler said.

The bookshelves are painted with dots, so when students see them they’ll know it’s a HomeBound shelf.

East Ridge Elementary is the only school so far to have one. Students like the convenience of it.

“You don’t have to wait until a certain day, like at the library. You can just do it whenever you want,” said third grader Erick Castro.

Third grader Maggie Bird picked Charlotte’s Web to read.

“I’ve seen the movie and I thought it would be cool to read the book,” Bird said.

And she realizes the importance of the program.

“Some people don’t have books at their house. So they can just get one from here and bring it home and read it and then come back and get another one,” Bird said.

Butler plans to expand the program with the goal of having bookshelves in nine schools by the end of the year.

“Hopefully we will be able to keep that goal getting bigger and bigger each year. And I have a team in Nashville ready to spread it there once we get a system down,” Butler said.

The next schools to get bookshelves will be Big Ridge and then Brown Academy. For more information about the program, click here.