Dear friends of Open Books, 

This issue of Volunteer Vanguard is unofficially titled, "Better Know Your Vols." We have some really exciting profiles here, so take the time to get to know Cary, who serves as the perfect example of the many levels of involvement possible at Open Books; Carol, who talks about her path towards becoming an educator; and John, whose roles as school librarian, reading buddy, and general good Samaritan, have more than earned him the vol-star title.

Between all of these lovely folks, it's clear to see there are endless ways to be involved in Open Books' mission. Though we often sync up with the school calendar, contributing to Chicago's literacy landscape is something you can do any time of the year. So, if a certain program's schedule doesn't match yours, take time to think about all of the other ways you can be a part of Open Books and the fight against illiteracy, whether it's organizing a fundraiser, book drive, or simply bringing a new friend to the bookstore. And if you're stumped, just ask me!  

Ava Zeligson

Volunteer Manager

Programs! Programs! Programs!

Open Books Buddies

Open Books Buddies is a twice-per-week one-on-one reading program for elementary school students. This year, Buddies will run at schools in Bronzeville, Bucktown, Humboldt Park, Logan Square, Near North, and West Town, and we can't wait to get started again!

ReadThenWrite

Our newest program, ReadThenWrite, which engages 6-8^th graders (and sometimes 4^th graders!) in an immersive reading, writing and publishing experience, will be taking place in Garfield Park and two schools in Near North this fall, with a Gage Park school joining the ranks in the spring!  

Vol-Star: John Zabelny

Open Books has been so very lucky to have John Zabelny on our team. For the past two years, John has been an absolutely essential part of our summer session of Open Books Buddies for students from Horizons for Youth, a wonderful program that provides opportunities for students from low-resource areas to access high-quality education by providing scholarships to attend private schools and mentors to ensure that students get the most out of their school experience. For the past two summers, Open Books has been proud to run Buddies for HFY students who attend the summer program held at Francis Xavier Warde, a private school that tends to serve students from a much more affluent background than those who attend via Horizons.

Back to John! John is the school librarian at Francis Xavier Warde and has been a truly invaluable resource for our program, which happens to take place in the very library he runs. Having John on hand to help us best utilize the many resources at FXW for our program made a huge difference, and that's not even mentioning the hours of reading he put in with his Little Buddies. He even scrounged up some extra books from the library for our final book giveaway!   

All of this would without a doubt put John in vol-star territory, but it gets even better. When we were talking to John about another one of our Buddies schools (Cameron Elementary in Humboldt Park) and mentioned that there was no librarian on staff there to help set up their library before school started, he immediately offered his time and expertise so that Cameron could start the year off right. Truly remarkable generosity!

Before I ramble further, I'll let John take over.  Read on to get to know this epitome of a vol-star!