Maggie and Harper Cunningham
“Kindness sets off a chain reaction.” At StoryCorps, Harper Cunningham, 14, and Maggie Cunningham, 12, talk about starting their non-profit, Books and a Blanket, which has given out almost 100,000 books and blankets to young children.
- [Maggie] Harper, how would you describe books in a blanket?
- [Harper] Books in the Blanket is a non-profit that we started about six years ago, and we give books and blanket to kids in elementary schools. And we give them bags with fifteen books in a blanket to the kids right before winter break. In total, we've given out over 80 thousand books to kids so far. So, Maggie, why is literacy important?
- [Maggie] Well, in third grade, when your teacher asks you 'did you read 20 minutes last night?', if you don't have any books, how are you expected to read 20 minutes every night? So we want to help those kids and provide books for them. Harper, how did we start books and a blanket?
- [Harper] We started books and a blanket because we knew that not everyone has books. And so we wanted to give other kids the opportunity to have books at their homes. So we decided to make a family project where we would give books and blankets. The books were my idea and the blankets were Maggie's. And we would give books to kids at our elementary school. We actually did not plan for it to be a full time non profit. We thought we would just give out books and blankets one year but, with the help of our community, we got a lot of book donations so we decided to keep going with Books and a Blanket. And eventually, it turned into a 501 C3. So, Maggie, what is your favorite part of Books and a Blanket?
- [Maggie] My favorite part of Books and a Blanket is, giving the books to the kids. They're always really happy to get their books. And sometimes they'll try to pick out just one, and we'll say no, the whole thing is yours, and they'll be so happy. And we've actually gotten a few tears over that, too. Harper, are their children who make you want to keep giving books and blankets?
- [Harper] Yes, so, whenever we give books out, right before winter break, the kids are always so sweet. And then, a few weeks later, we'll get Thank You notes from the schools and the kids will tell us all about their books and their blankets, and what was their favorite part, and how much they liked them, and it's really sweet. And that's why we give out books and blankets. Maggie, why does kindness matter?
- [Maggie] Kindness matters because when one person is kind to another person, it sets off a chain reaction, and that can inspire that person to be kind to other people or, do something that they hadn't thought to do before. Harper, how has knowing Spanish helped you with Books and a Blanket?
- [Harper] So a few years ago we were giving out our books and blankets, right before winter break, and we were at a school where a lot of the kids, their native language was Spanish. And so, the teachers had wanted them to help get the books and blankets inside of the school. So I said the directions in English, on how we were going to move all the books from the giant truck into their school. They kind of knew what I was saying but, once I started speaking in Spanish, because I had heard some of the kids speaking in Spanish before that, they immediately understood me and it was just a lot better for all of us. That way they knew what was going on and they were a lot grateful.