Hoping You Know

              Sometimes I feel I spend a lot of time and energy trying to convince people why books are so important. "There are 60,000 kids growing up in our area without books, and if a child is not exposed to books by the time he or she enters kindergarten, the child is three to four times more likely to drop out of high school." Sometimes it's a tough sell, yet on and on I go, in an exuberant fashion. My dear friend and Co-Founder of "The Sandbox" Mara Campolungo and I often joke about this. All she has to say to get people to support her cause is "kids with cancer." People get it and immediately and flock to help. For me and my passion, it takes a good five minutes to really get someone to understand the magnitude and importance of what we do. But it is 5 minutes I will happily spend over and over again, with as many people who will listen.  Anyone who knows me knows I am passionate about books. But to be honest, it's not the books I really care about. It's the kids. I truly believe if we can get books to kids at an early age, their brains will develop steadfastly, and our community, country and world will be a better place. I know every single book donated or dollar raised gets us one step closer to a world full of problem-solvers instead of potential problems. 

Grandma and Little Kristi

             My grandmother was an avid reader. She loved the written word. Over the course of her life she wrote many beautiful short stories that will soon be published thanks to the hard work of my cousin, University of Indiana journalism student Katie Denta and her parents. My grandmother Elaine Louise Denta never went to college, but she could run circles around almost anyone when it came to knowledge and smart. In fact, I am sure she could find quite a few grammatical errors and misspelling on this here blog post. I can only imagine the red pen!

            I was never able to share the vision or successes of Promising Pages with Grandma Denta. Even though I conceived the idea for the non-profit in 2008 and officially launched it in 2011, she never got it. When I was on CNN this past July, she was too far gone to understand. 

            Of all the people who volunteer with us and so profoundly get what we are doing here, she was the one person who would have needed no convincing; not because I'm her granddaughter, but because she exemplified everything that Promising Pages represents. In fact, Promising Pages is so much more her than me. If you would have told me a couple of years ago that I would spend my every waking non-familial moment dedicated to early childhood literacy, I would have chuckled. Yet here I am working my tail off to get donations and raise funds because I know the power of what we are doing. Maybe she does too now. 

            In July I, my 4 month old son, and my sister traveled to Ohio to visit her at her total care facility. She had no idea who we were, but she knew we were special. I wanted her to meet her first great grandson Nathaniel William. It was my husband's idea to make the trip and I'm glad I listened and I'm glad my Aunt Eileen was willing to cart us around. Grandma was funny and very sweet that day. She wanted to hold Nate and we got some very special pictures, one of which was buried with her in her casket.  

Great Grandma and Baby Nate

            My grandmother died last Friday. My husband, son and I just returned home from her funeral services. She suffered from Alzheimer's for many years. It's a very unfair and cruel disease and to be honest, it actually more sad than anything. I feel sad, especially for my grandpa who is by himself now. We hope he comes for a nice long visit very soon. Their love was so pure and deep. Sometimes I felt as if I was watching a real live version of "The Notebook," still my favorite movie to date.  Now that she's gone it brings me comforts to know that she's no longer confused and tortured by her lack of understanding. All of those frustrations must have dispelled the moment she took her last breath. She is finally at peace.

Grandma and Grandpa Denta

              My grandmother and I had a rocky relationship over the years. In fact it's safe to say we were at odds far more than we were on the same page. But this makes up for all of it. I know in my heart just how she feels about what I am doing with my life and I couldn't be more proud to share her legacy. Promising Pages is truly and literally now her legacy. Thank you to my aunt and uncles for the memorial suggestion. I am proud to be a part of such a selfless gesture.  

            Grandma, we thank you for all of your many positive influences. Know that your love of literacy got through to me and I am working very hard so that all kids will have the needed exposure to hopefully love and respect it as much as you did. We love you and miss you very much. I'm sorry you never got to hear about Promising Pages but I hope you know now, and understand.

Love your first grandchild,

Kristi

-Kristina Cruise

Charlotte Creates Entrepreneurship

Everyone in and around Charlotte knows the DNC took front and center the week of September 3rd. Here at Promising Pages we are a  non-partisan non-profit and we LOVE to volunteer. Our leadership team decided our volunteer hours should be spent helping out in the many various aspects and undertakings of such a historic, and for Charlotte, unprecedented event.   

Last week I had the pleasure of volunteering with Charlotte Creates at Packard Place. Packard Place is one of the most unique organizations in the Charlotte area.  According to their website, "Packard Place is the hub for entrepreneurship and innovation in Charlotte.  Our mission is to develop fast-growth businesses and the professional community to drive them."  The businesses involved with Packard Place are divided into five specific areas including Technology, Design, Energy, Social Entrepreneurship, and Art. Several of the businesses associated with Packard Place were there to present who they were and what they do as a part of Packard Place.  

The first group I encountered was part of the Social Entrepreneurship hub of Packard Place.  The group was called Second Helping.  It is a coffee shop which employs women recently released from prison.  Melissa Mummert, Program Director for Second Helping said, “In an economy where finding employment is already challenging, women who come home from prison face an even more severe challenge as a result of discrimination against people who have criminal backgrounds.”  Second Helping is helping to change the lives of women in the Charlotte community just like Promising Pages is doing for the children we encounter. 

The next business who left a lasting impression was Eventys.  Eventys is part of the Design group at Packard Place.  It is a company that is a source for invention.  They have a website which allows people to propose an invention they think could be taken to market.  Eventys has scientists who partner with the inventor to get the invention to market.  Once to market Eventys shares the profits with the inventor 50/50.  The company has started the award-winning television show Everyday Edisons.  

One of the technology companies presenting at Packard Place was T1Visions.  T1Visions is a company trying to revolutionize the way we use touchscreen technology.  The product they were displaying was called Social Connect Touchscreens.  It is a video monitor which enabled four to eight individuals to gather around a desk with individual laptops and share documents to one common screen. The desk also has touchscreen capability to move documents or items from the web.  According to President Mike Feldman,  "Teams can connect, share, and learn using an intuitive, multitouch user interface.  Meetings become more efficient, information is highly accessible, and presentations are engaging."  T1Visions has a prototype being used on campus of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  

The most memorable portion of Charlotte Creates was several Random Acts of Culture.  About once per hour there was a different group who would come in and perform some type of artistic expression.  One performance was a group of four ladies who did a dance which seemed to be a mixture of rhythmic gymnastics and yoga.  Another performance was a lady singing the popular Adele song "Someone Like You."  The song was interrupted with a few poems speaking about empowering women.  


Charlotte Creates at Packard Place was a very unique experience which showed off some of the best of what Charlotte has to offer. Although of business of brining books to children in Charlotte never stopped behind the scenes the week of the DNC, it was good to get out and mingle with other like-minded folks who also want to better our community and leave a long lasting mark.  I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of this and to meet so many intelligent people and their entrepreneurial spirit.  

- Mitchell Sharp

A Touch of Elevation

It was a beautiful Saturday morning like many that we have had in Charlotte as of late, but this Saturday wasn’t like others because our Promising Pages warehouse was buzzing with chatter and young teens were busy at work.  On August 25^th we had 100 teenagers from Elevation church come and volunteer at our warehouse.  It was the largest crowd that we have ever hosted, and all that we were able to accomplish exceeded all our expectations. 

         Elevation Church began just over six years ago with less than 20 people. In just a few short years, they have grown to over 10,000 in regular attendance.  The church has dedicated itself to giving back to the community in the form of “Elevation Outreach.”  We were lucky enough to be a part of the major initiative as we were one of the organizations that Elevation came to volunteer with.  In total, they had over 1,000 teens throughout the city volunteering!    

         When the teens arrived there was an instant burst of energy throughout the warehouse.  We had 4 stations set up and they all jumped at the opportunity to complete various tasks to help us out.  The supplies were all laid out for them and once they were given directions the magic began to happen. 

         In our carpet station artistic volunteers were able to decorate carpet squares that will be placed in classrooms after we host our signature "Magic Book Parties."  These “Magic Carpets” will be used as reading corners for children.  It will be an incentive so whenever a student is having a good day they get the opportunity to go and read on the carpet that is decorated with our mascot, "Erm the Book Worm."  By using it as a reward system it will allow the kids be reminded of their encounter with our program and the underlying lesson which is that reading is fun and exciting, and that in doing so they can be anything they want to be when they grow up. 

       Our bookmark station was a major hit and our volunteer’s creativity was truly exhibited. Instead of throwing away books that are in such poor condition that we are unable to give them away, we recycle their pages.  These pages are then used to make specialized collage bookmarks for the kids.  The Elevation teens really enjoyed this activity and their faces lit up once they were able to see their finished laminated product.  The bookmarks also included positive messages such as “Reading Rocks” and “Reading is Cool” that the kids always love to see.

        One of our most innovative stations was the wrapping paper section.  We used large white butcher paper and the teens were able to decorate it.  After they were decorated with beautiful images, inspiring quotes, and other various colorful doodles we rolled it up and will later use it to wrap books for the kids.  In the past, kids have loved the personal wrapping paper so much that they carefully opened their books and kept the paper!

       Our final station allowed the teens to clean and wrap the books.  The teens quickly caught on to our specialized technique.  They quickly grasped how precious all our resources are to us, and they made sure to use all the supplies sparingly while still producing quality work.  These are the same books that will bring smiles to so many children in our community.  The entire event was an inspiration to myself and the rest of the Promising Pages staff.  These teens were not only selfless enough to take the time out of their day to come and help us, but they put thought in everything they were doing.

 

Seeing all the work that happens behind the scenes to present quality books to kids, who are our most innocent members of society, reaffirmed my thoughts on this organization.  This was my first major event with Promising Pages and I left that day with a huge smile on my face.  I know that I am now a part of something that is so much greater then myself and the rest of us here at Promising Pages.  I am a part of a movement that is working to be the change that it wishes to see in this world.

Have a great and blessed week!

-Sandrine Uwera