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Where Families Gather, Books Belong: Dvadnie’s Journey with Book Harvest At Book Harvest, we believe every child deserves the magic of stories, and our mission is as simple as it is powerful: to make sure every child has an abundance of books. Through our programs, we put high-quality books directly into the hands of students at school and deliver them straight to families’ homes. Our goal is to help build home libraries children can cherish for years to come. Yet, there are

Astoria reminded us that communities don't necessarily need to start from scratch. They already have organizations committed to children and families — dedicated leaders, trusted institutions, and a shared desire to see children thrive.

On Saturday, July 18, more than 3,500 neighbors filled Durham Central Park for our annual Summer Block Party — and in just three hours, children harvested 15,363 books to take home and keep forever.

We are demonstrating, over and over again, what becomes possible when we lead with abundance instead of scarcity, with hope instead of fear.

We are thrilled to welcome two remarkable leaders to our team: Jessica "JRuss" Russell Gilliam, our new Associate Director of People Operations, and Theon Webster, our new Chief Financial Officer

At the 2026 Book Harvest Summer Block Party, 15,363 books were harvested in just 3 hours. That’s 85 books harvested per minute by 3,500+ attendees – a 56.4% increase in books harvested from last year! And it all happened right at Durham Central Park, amidst music, games, food, and joyful community.

At Book Harvest, our culture has always been built on something simple but powerful: people who show up fully, again and again, for our families and for each other. Few people embody that spirit more than Tabitha Blackwell.

Book Harvest’s 6th annual Summer Block Party is a free community-wide event celebrating summer and books. The afternoon will include family activities and entertainment, highlighted by an abundance of free children’s books for every child—from infants to high schoolers—to take home and keep forever (there will be 15,000 books to choose from this year!)

On June 22nd, the Durham Board of County Commissioners proclaimed July 6th-10th Summer Learning Week in Durham County! See the official Proclamation below. We are so grateful to the entire Board of County Commissioners for lifting up the importance of summer learning in this way, and to our partners across the county who have made this possible.