Gift of Reading

A Legacy of Books

For more than 15 years, the Nakoma League has sponsored the Gift of Reading program, designed to promote literacy and to provide books for children, especially books they can keep. This year we asked our fellow Nakomans to nominate recipients. The League Board reviewed the nominees and decided to divide the monies collected equally between all five terrific nominees. 

From the total neighborhood contributions of $1375, we will send checks for $275 to four of the recipients: First Book -- Dane County which distributes new books to area children; the Kennedy Heights Community Center’s family and children’s book clubs; MADELINE (Madison and Dane County Encourages Literacy In Pediatric Environments) which provides books to “graduates” of the Meriter Newborn Intensive Care Unit; and the Sequoya Branch of the Madison Public Library. The League will purchase $275 worth of children’s books for the waiting room at the health clinic of the Allied Wellness Center, serving the Allied, Belmar and Dunn’s Marsh neighborhoods. This year, the Gift of Reading was single-handedly coordinated by Carla McDonald, Nakoma League co-president.

Many thanks are due to our generous neighbors who support this program year in and year out. Thanks also to the neighbors who nominated these great recipients, many of whom also volunteer with the program they nominated. This year’s Gift of Reading was supported by the following residents: Brandon, Buchanan, Buckner, Campbell & Weber, Carne, Douma, Eggl & Binter, Gallagher, Gepner, Glasz, Greer, Holm, James & McIntosh, Jones, Kazamias, Leubke & Leeds, Levy, Leyer, Magnuson, Moore, Morganbesser, Moser, Read, Reynolds, Rose, Schindler, Simenstad, Somers, Stetson, Waggoner, Walters, Widder, Wood, Zimmerman, and Zutter.