Durham’s Book Harvest Earns $250,000 to Expand ‘Books on Break’ Summer Program
A Durham nonprofit received a major grant to help fund and expand its book distribution program to elementary-aged students for summer reading.
Book Harvest announced Friday it was chosen to receive $250,000 from the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust to grow its Books on Break program across North Carolina. The initiative, which is approaching its 13th year, has provided more than 500,000 books to thousands of students to keep as their own and help maintain literacy skills while out of school.
The William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust, which is a frequent contributor to the nonprofit, is based in Chapel Hill and focuses on projects aiding children’s education and their surrounding communities.
“The Kenan Trust is committed to funding innovative and effective programs in education,” said Nancy J. Cable, Executive Director of the Kenan Charitable Trust. “The Books on Break program embodies these qualities, and we appreciate the vision of Book Harvest to expand the program across North Carolina. We are honored to partner in this initiative to support student learning and growth over summer break.”
“This grant from the Kenan Charitable Trust is a transformative opportunity to scale our proven program during the critical summer months,” said Rachel Stine, Senior Director of Books on Break. “We will be able to expand our reach to an additional 3,900 students, with a focused effort on reaching students who attend Title 1 schools.”
Book Harvest said the grant investment will help it partner with new school districts, improve implementation and expand communication to promote the program statewide. Books on Break takes place in May, and brings a wide selection of new books to campuses for students to choose between and take home. In 2024, the program took place at 37 schools across five counties, including Durham, and provided 12,347 students with more than 101,000 books.
By creating excitement and ownership around reading books, Book Harvest aims to tackle one of its main goals when founded in 2011: help children strengthen their literacy through empowering and enabling them. The nonprofit says 78% of North Carolina’s children in low-income families are not reading proficiently by the end of third grade — and summer is often a time when those skills erode if not practiced. Books on Break gives the students books to help retain and advance their reading, while bringing excitement to their classrooms in a group setting.
More about Book Harvest’s Books on Break program can be found on the nonprofit’s website.