The Bright Lights Book Project: Sharing our Literacy-related Vision
Contributed by Alys Culhane
I didn’t have a vision when, in 2019, I started salvaging books at VCRS. I simply wanted to get the books, which were in abundance, into the hands of appreciative readers. These readers were initially friends and family members.
The books that were coming into VCRS in large numbers were (as I saw it) more than plentiful. Books were being shredded and pulped, and this generated an income for VCRS. The problem was, the volunteers could not keep up with the shredding workload. The quality of many of the books was also quite high.
The VCRS staff was well aware that if they didn’t take the books, they’d end up in the adjacent Mat-Su Borough Landfill. I felt similarly. Furthermore, I was aware that added material would impinge on land set aside for recreation purposes. I was an avid horseback rider, and so the prospect of trails being covered by a landfill didn’t sit well with me.
I moved the Bright Lights Book Project to the Meeting House, a one-story residential looking church building located on Bailey Street, in January 2021. The BLBP became a fledgling nonprofit 501(c)(3) and acquired a board of directors. We drew up mission and vision statements. Our mission was to get books into the hands of appreciative readers and our vision was envisioning power of literacy to change lives.
This mission statement was tangible. I and other volunteers salvaged, sorted, cleaned, and stamped books on a near daily basis. Unbeknownst to me, our vision statement would soon supersede this mission statement.
The Mat-Su Health Foundation and the Foraker Group were two early BLBP partners. The Mat-Su Health Foundation provided us with funding. And the Foraker Group provided us with board governance training.
Tracy Kalytiak (of the Mat-Su Health Foundation) and Mike Wash (of the Foraker Group) were instrumental in bringing our project vision to the forefront of my consciousness. I was initially resistant to what they both told me, which was that we (meaning me and BLBP board members) needed in theory and practice to put a greater emphasis on the word literacy.
I argued that we were doing well in getting books into the hands of appreciative readers. Our Bookcases in the Schools, Books to Villages, and Books to Seniors programs had been well-received, locally and state-wide.
It slowly dawned on me that both Kalytiak and Walsh were right. For example, Alaska ranks 2nd lowest in the nation in fourth grade reading levels, which is contributing to an uninformed citizenry. As you readers know, the act of reading and the acquisition of a larger world view are inextricably linked.
The BLBP moved to its current location, the former Banquet Room of the Historic Eagle Hotel, in June 2023, and with this move came a greater emphasis on literacy. Thought embodies itself in language, and this was the case here. I revised my so-called elevator speech, and put literacy first, telling all involved with the project that we envision literacy to change lives, and to this end, we are making books accessible to all individuals. I first practiced this at the 2024 Science of Reading Symposium, where my audience was primarily educators. I next took it to the streets and when distributing books in local businesses, said the same thing. My rallying cry became, “Let’s Make Alaska Literate Again.”
I also decided that a name change, that is one that complemented our literacy-related stance, was in order. And so, the former banquet room of the Historic Eagle Hotel is now the Palmer Literacy Center. This was fitting, in fact so much so that I, with the help of BLBP board members, made our current space even more inviting. Visitors continue to enter the Palmer Literacy Center via the side door but now walk into an open space that invites further literacy-related discussions. These days our focus is on our Children read to Seniors program, which takes place at the Alaska Veterans and Pioneer Home.
The board speaks with one voice. We’ve agreed that in order to sustain our remarkable vision, we have to fundraise. Like all other nonprofit entities, we have operating costs. It costs $90.00 a day to keep our doors open: rent, U-Haul storage space, gas, and travel expenses included.
The beauty of our literacy-related vision is that it’s community-based. We’re all in this for the long haul, and by we, I mean all Alaskans. So please go to our website (www.brightlightsbookproject.org) and make a financial contribution. Volunteer hours also count as a contribution since corporate donors take numbers into consideration when making financial support determinations.