Labor and community leaders joined a press event at the St. Paul book giveaway. Speakers (L to R) included St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Kera Peterson, Education Minnesota Secretary-Treasurer Rodney Rowe and Vice President Monica Byron, AFT President Randi Weingarten, SPFE President Leah VanDassor and St. Paul Deputy Mayor Jaime Tincher.
The St. Paul Federation of Educators gave away 40,000 books to children, families and teachers Dec. 16 as part of their international union’s “Reading Opens the World” initiative, which aims to give out 10 million free books.
“As others ban books, we’re giving them out,” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said during a brief program during the book giveaway. “As others try to stop kids from reading, we want to nurture minds and open the world to our kids and our families.”
Educators staged the event at Neighborhood House on St. Paul’s West Side, with volunteers unpacking boxes of books and arranging them by reading level. Organizers selected titles “that are diverse, that are interesting, that have lived experiences (relevant) to our kids and our families and our communities,” Weingarten said.
AFT launched “Reading Opens the World” in December 2021 as part of the union’s “Real Solutions”campaign to strengthen public schools and address learning loss, loneliness and literacy. So far, the international union has distributed 2 million books as part of the initiative.
In St. Paul, families could take home up to 30 books, and educators could take up to 50 free books for their classroom libraries.
Education Minnesota Vice President Monica Byron credited SPFE with “sparking so much joy in our community” with the book giveaway.
“To the educators that I see being able to grab books to share with their students across their classrooms, have fun and take those moments to see the joy,” Byron said. “And to the students, I hope you read these books over and over and over again because that’s where the magic happens –in the words, in the pages and in your minds.”
Co-sponsors of the book giveaway included the Saint Paul Regional Labor Federation, Teamsters Local 120, Saint Paul Parks and Recreation, Neighbor-hood House, Education Minnesota and the West Side Community Organization.