Feel Good Friday - Little Free Library

It’s summer, time to lie on a beach or sit in your backyard and read a book! But what if you don’t have a book to read? Today’s Feel Good Friday organization, Little Free Library, has you covered. 

Little Free Library is a neighborhood book exchange that began in Wisconsin in 2009 when Todd Bol built a model of a one room schoolhouse, put it on a post in his yard and filled it with books. The idea and the libraries spread and Little Free Library became a registered nonprofit organization in 2012. Their mission is “to be a catalyst for building community, inspiring readers, and expanding book access for all through a global network of volunteer-led Little Free Libraries.” Their tag line, “Take a Book. Share a Book.”

The reason the organization focuses on book access is explained on their website. “Today in the United States, more than 30 million adults cannot read or write above a third-grade level. Studies have repeatedly shown that books in the hands of children have a meaningful impact on improving literacy. The more books in or near the home, the more likely a child will learn and love to read. But two out of three children living in poverty have no books to call their own.”
 
The programs run by Little Free Library to achieve their mission of book access for all include: equipping, educating and guiding volunteer stewards to establish Little Free Libraries in their communities; Read in Color, an initiative to bring diverse books to book-sharing boxes; the Impact Library Program, which has provided 1,350 no-cost Little Free Library book exchanges to communities where books are scarce; and the Action Book Club, which combines reading and community service.

If you want to find a Little Free Library in your neighborhood, use this map. There are now libraries in all 50 states and on all 7 continents. Over 100,000 libraries in all with 42 million books shared annually. The impact of these libraries is highlighted on the website: “72% of volunteer stewards have met more neighbors because of their Little Free Library” and “92% of people say their neighborhood feels like a friendlier place because of a Little Free Library.” All that and free books too!

If you’d like to support the work of Little Free Library there are many ways to do so. Start a library in your neighborhood, make a donation, and amplify their work on social media by liking their Facebook page and following them on Twitter @LtlFreeLibrary and Instagram @littlefreelibrary. 

Feel Good Friday - California Fire Prevention Organization

Anticipating a summer full of wildfires is what inspired today’s Feel Good Friday focus on the California Fire Prevention Organization. 

The majority of California is in drought conditions and wildfire season has already started. That’s what makes the work being done by California Fire Prevention Organization (CFPO) so important. CFPO is a nonprofit organization that partners with communities and fire departments across the state to educate people about fire and life safety. Their mission is “to reduce the threat to life from fire utilizing technology, education, and localized awareness for the fire service and the general public.”
 
There are a number of educational programs that help CFPO achieve this mission:

• Ready, Set, Go - education on how to prepare for a disaster and know when to evacuate
• Fire Smart California – providing guidance on how to create and practice a plan for what to do in the event of a fire
• My Safe California – installing free smoke alarms for families that are unable to provide them for themselves and partnering with fire departments to deliver fire prevention activities and education
• Quake Smart California – education and resources for what to do when you feel an earthquake – DROP! COVER! HOLD ON!

Much of CFPO’s educational programming is targeted at children. In the last 33 years, the team has delivered fire and life safety presentations to over 670,000 students, primarily in Southern California.
 
If you’d like to increase your knowledge on fire prevention you can subscribe to the CFPO podcast. To help them with their work, make a donation and amplify their reach on social media by liking their Facebook page and following them on Twitter @MySafeCA and Instagram @california_fire_prevention. 

Feel Good Friday - The Trevor Project

It’s the last Feel Good Friday during Pride month so today’s focus is on an organization helping LGBTQ youth, The Trevor Project. 

The Trevor Project has been in the news recently after NFL player Carl Nassib came out as gay and announced he was making $100k donation to the organization. If you’re not familiar with their work, The Trevor Project is “the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young people under 25." 

As stated in their 2020 Annual Report there are “more than 1.8 million LGBTQ young people who seriously consider suicide in the U.S. each year.” That’s why the mission of The Trevor Project is “to end suicide among LGBTQ youth”. 

 

The organization was founded in 1998 by the creators of the short film Trevor, a coming-of-age story of a gay teen set in 1981. The same night the film premiered on HBO in 1998, the filmmakers launched The TREVOR Lifeline, the first national crisis intervention and suicide prevention hotline for LGBTQ youth.

Since then, the programs of The Trevor Project have expanded to include: 24/7 crisis services via phone, text and chat; peer support through a social networking community; research to help improve services offered and advocate for change; education and public awareness programs; and advocacy at the federal, state, and local levels to fight for policies and laws that protect LGBTQ youth.

In Fiscal year 2020, volunteers with The Trevor Project have served over 150,000 youth through the crisis hotline, text and chat, and TrevorSpace.org has over 300,000 users. The organization also conducted the largest mental health survey of LGBTQ youth in the nation while the research team stayed active publishing research briefs and peer-reviewed journal articles. The Trevor Project’s goal for upcoming years is to serve 1.8 million crisis contacts every year.

If you’d like to support LGBTQ youth during Pride month, or any other time of year, there are several ways you can get involved. Become a volunteer crisis counselor, make a donation, and support The Trevor Project on social media by liking their Facebook page and following them on Twitter @TrevorProject and Instagram@trevorproject.