Thank you so much for the box of books Links to Libraries sent to our PreK-3 students. I am eager to get these books into the hands of our students.

We have created a "lending/keeping library" in our front atrium where students may take a book, read it, return it, keep it, or trade it for a different book. Many students frequently take the time to peruse the new books we stock the library with on a regular basis. Some of the Links to Library books will be use for this purpose.

Catherine Hourihan, Principal 
Lawrence FSCS PreK-3 Campus

I wish we could track every child that received their own personal book from you and your Link to Libraries Program. Twenty years from now, it would be amazing to hear the stories from those very students and how you made a difference for them.

Maura McCaffrey President
Health New England, Springfield, MA

We would like to thank you for the of books we received at Zanetti School from Link to Libraries. The children and teachers at Zanetti are very appreciative of your organization’s support of Zanetti and the Springfield Public Schools. Our librarian has been busy processing and cataloging them for circulation and our library is becoming filled with books that children enjoy reading.

Having a literature rich environment is an important goal for all of us at Zanetti. Link to Libraries’ support helps us achieve this goal by putting books in the hands of our students – through building our classroom collections and our library as well. 

Tara Clark, Margie Campbell, and Amy Seldin
Zanetti School, Springfield, MA

Thank you Links To Libraries for all of the wonderful books that have been sent to Sumner Avenue School. Links To Libraries has been a godsend to our school. As school library budgets get cut, we have no funding source to get new books for our libraries. Links To Libraries has been instrumental in seeing to it that we get many books that are on our wish lists...keeping the students' up-to-date with the current trends in children's literature.

Also, the students love to have readers come in to their classrooms to do a "Read Aloud." These readers always come with books for the students to keep as their very own. Many of our students would not have any books at home without this wonderful program! Thanks again! 

Deborah Premont, School Librarian
Sumner Avenue School, Springfield, MA

Barnes & Noble is so proud of the generosity of our Holyoke customers and employees, and so happy you’ll put these books donated at the holiday season to such wonderful use!

Kyle Rankins, Community Business Development Manager 
Barnes & Noble, Holyoke, MA

Thank you for all the time and effort you put forth to place quality literature in the hands of our students.  They look forward to the new books that are provided for our classrooms and library.  We are just starting read alouds with our business partnership and look forward to connecting our students with the community through books provided by Links to Libraries.

Joan M. Marsh, Language Arts Consultant 
Prudence Crandall School, Enfield, CT

A simple thank you seems inadequate to express our appreciation of books our school gets from your organization! The quality and quantity of books are truly outstanding. Our staff and students are continually impressed with these books.

Whenever new books are put on the library shelves, I give our students a preview the week before to let them know what is new in the library. I love building up the excitement to read! (It is one of my favorite parts of my job!)

One thing we do not often think about is the tremendous effort and time that goes into getting the deliveries of books together. It is a process and we are grateful and thank the people who do this.

Nancy Wegman, Library Media Tech
Stefanik School, Chicopee, MA

As a kid, I read virtually every book in the local library. It has had a profound impact on my life. I am extremely proud of my team at St. Germain for stepping up with so many voluntary readers. I believe that if we can get some of these youth interested in and excited about reading at a young age, it will have as great an impact on their life as it did on mine. 

Michael Matty, President and Director
St. Germain Investment, Springfield, MA

Thank you for your support of my program this year. The books have been lovely and the kids have been really excited to receive them. 

I also personally appreciate your support of librarian-run school libraries. With our kids, they need all the expertise they can be impacted by as we encourage them as readers to be leaders.

Mary Fitzgerald, Librarian
Lincoln Elementary Library - Springfield, MA

Link to Libraries has been a life line to the support of the improvement of reading for the students at our school. Our students enjoy reading the new books generously donated to them individually as well as the additional new books provided for our classrooms and library. Thank you for helping us in our quest to improve reading for our students! Our grade 3 students enjoy the monthly "read alouds" hosted by Links to Libraries each year! Thank you, Links to Libraries, for your continued support to our school!

Ann Stennett, Principal
Warner Elementary School - Springfield, MA

Link to Libraries is a terrific organization which has captivated the Greater Western Massachusetts community in its approach to teaching children to read.

Jim Vinick, Treasurer, Finance Board Chairman, Board of Governor
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame - Springfield, MA

We know the key to success in later years is a solid education, and that begins with early literacy. Link to Libraries is one of our region's premier nonprofits tackling this issue. By putting more books into the hands of more kids, and making reading fun and connected to everyday life, Link to Libraries helps instill a lifelong love of learning in thousands of young people - giving all of us the keys to a brighter future.

Eric Lesser
Massachusetts Senator 

I wanted to thank you for the huge part you played in our year of book giving here at Lincoln. Our third graders received so many special books throughout the year thanks to your generous donation through Links to Libraries.

The last week of school, each child was able to come to the library to "shop" for a book of their choice organized by grade and reading level. This collection was supplemented by donations from family, friends and staff, but the backbone of the 400+ books were through your support of Links. The kids loved the experience of getting to choose for themselves and couldn't get over the idea that they were theirs to take home and keep.

I think we can all agree books at home make a difference and your support has helped to make this happen.

Mary Fitzgerald, Librarian 
Lincoln Elementary Library - Springfield, MA

Homer Street School has been very fortunate to have Link to Libraries’ support and programs contributing to the literacy of our students. Students have benefitted from the wonderful books and readers that have come to our school through the Business Book Link Project, Celebrity Read Aloud Program, Reading Any Place, and the Welcome to Kindergarten Program. Our once empty classroom and school libraries now have many new books for our students to choose from. Many of our students have received brand new books to take home, which is especially crucial to building lifelong literacy. We have made many valuable connections with our community businesses and volunteers through Link to Libraries.

Mary Outhuse, ILS Mathematics
Homer Street School - Springfield, MA

The book 'Bear in a Square' is a great kindergarten pre-school book! The illustrations capture children's attention and it is very interactive that children can find shapes. I love the fact that it is written in both English and Spanish. A great math book that incorporates the concepts of counting 1-10, shapes and colors.

(In response to LTL's Welcome to Kindergarten "Read Together" literacy book bag donation.)

Ms. Sturmer, Kindergarten Teacher
Peck Elementary School - Holyoke, MA

Children really liked the book. Parents commented that they liked the two bilingual books. (In response to LTL's Welcome to Kindergarten "Read Together" literacy book bag donation.)

Ms. Lillian Norwood, Kindergarten Teacher
Peck Elementary School - Holyoke, MA

We truly appreciate the support of Link to Libraries and Big Y Foods, Inc. that made the donation of over 150 new books possible. I expect that many children will experience the magic of reading in the coming months thanks to your generosity and that of Big Y Foods. Your gift included an impressive assortment of fiction and non-fiction with wonderful picture books, biographies, historical fiction, science and pure entertainment.

Susan Domanico, Assistant Superintendent
Torrington Board of Education - Torrington, CT

We work diligently to provide all students with the tools to become readers and to develop a love of reading. Please know these books are already in the hands of our students and are being enjoyed on a daily basis.

Mary Beth Pulsifer, Principal
Lincoln Street School - Worcester, MA

Thank you for the donation of books for our children. Your generosity and thoughtfulness will help make a difference in the lives of the children we serve and further our mission in providing quality orthopaedic care regardless of the patient or patient's family's ability to pay. By working together we can truly build a better tomorrow for kids.

The Board of Governors & Staff
Shriners Hospitals for Children - Springfield, MA

The kids have certainly enjoyed curling up on the easy chairs with a good book! Thanks for supporting our literacy efforts and for feeding our kids' imaginations.

Elizabeth M. Daly, Executive Director
Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicopee - Chicopee, MA

Thank you for the wonderful donation. The books will be put to good use in our new literacy program as we reach out to our community. We are pleased to use the generous gift of new books for our ministries here in the Salvation Army Family Library.

Lt. Cynthia Crowsen, Corps Officer Pastor
The Salvation Army - N. Adams, MA

We are so appreciative of the new titles that have been added to the Abner Gibb, Franklin Avenue and Highland School Libraries in the Westfield District. Library funding is almost nonexistent this year, so your books have filled a huge void. Our books are also showing a lot of wear, so having new books has been an exciting event.

Jo Ann Bourquard, Librarian
Westfield Public Schools - Westfield, MA

At the YMCA of Greater Springfield, we serve more than 1000 kids from infants to middle school on a daily basis. We understand how important it is to have a good foundation for literacy as well as cultivating the love for reading throughout their lives. Links to Libraries has been an invaluable partner as we work to keep books in the hands of children.

We understand that children may not go to a physical library as often as they once did. Links to Libraries helps us bring the libraries to them. They have contributed thousands of books over the past couple of years to our kids and our programs. One program that we were able to do thanks to their generous donation is Books on the Bus. We were able to provide books for the youth as they rode buses between camps or to field trips.

This year we began an incentive program to go along with it. Once a child read a certain number of pages, they received a “Rolling Readers” t-shirt. We are going to implement the program during the school year as well. We are thankful to Links to Libraries and none of these great things would be happening if it were not for such a committed partner.

Dexter Johnson, Interim President and CEO
YMCA of Greater Springfield

The opportunities Link to Libraries have opened up for Bowie School are wonderful indeed. With LTL support we have been able to create a library with up to date and interesting book titles for our students. Our students love all these beautiful new books that we now have available for them in our library. Our 3rd and 4th grade students enjoy and look forward to the Read Aloud Program each month. The students are fortunate to have professionals from the community read to them and then distribute books to each of them for their home libraries every month. Our kindergarten teachers are very grateful for the Welcome to Kindergarten bags that are donated to our school for each incoming student. The students are thrilled to receive this welcome gift.

Thank you Link to Libraries! You have made a tremendous difference to our school!

Joyce Hogan, Librarian 
Bowie Memorial School - Chicopee, MA

Thank you for your willingness to partner with us to offer meaningful and measurable literacy opportunities to our preschool children. Your generosity helps us tremendously in our efforts to ensure a quality, early educational and care experience for thousands of local children.

Joan Kagan, President and CEO
Square One - Springfield, MA

The Links to Libraries program is a phenomenal program that has helped boost our library collection with current popular titles our students are clamoring for.

Kirstin Joyce, Librarian 
Washington School - Springfield, MA

Thank you for the donation of 200 new books for the students of the Washington School. The books will be given out at the school's Literacy Night in spring 2012. The books will be used to enrich the lives of the students at Washington School. The Link to Libraries program is wonderful. The quality and variety of the books is outstanding. Dr Seuss said, "The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you go." Thank you for helping provide "more places for students to go". Your kindness and generosity will make a difference in the lives of children, and will not be forgotten.

Deanna Suomala, Principal
Washington School - Springfield, MA

Thank you for the very generous donation of 150 new children's books. The books are beautiful and truly cover a wide range of topics and reading levels. We in Pittsfield appreciate the opportunity to be associated with this valuable program and look forward to receiving books in 2011 and beyond.

Sue Doucette, Early Childhood Coordinator
Pittsfield Public Schools - Pittsfield, MA

On behalf of the Montowese Elementary School staff and student body, I would like to sincerely thank Link to Libraries in collaboration with Big Y Foods for their generous donation of books. Reading is a life long journey and a very important component of our curriculum at Montowese. Through the generosity of companies like yours, our students are allowed to truly explore the world of books.

Mary L. Federico, Principal 
Montowese Elementary School - North Haven, CT

Thank you for the donation of books to Sinai Academy. Our pre-schoolers will have a good time reading the picture books you brought and we (grade 5) will have a good time reading the new chapter books.

Grades 3, 4, and 5
Sinai Academy of the Berkshires - Pittsfield, MA

Having friends in the community and supporters like you (Link to Libraries) make all the difference. Thank you.

Janna Chapdelaine, Director of Development and Public Relations 
Girls Inc. - Holyoke, MA

Thank you on behalf of our Educational Resources for Children, Inc. The students especially enjoyed the presentation of the books by the participating sponsors. Thank you to your volunteer, Gail Baquis, who delivered the books to the Barnard & Crandall After School Learning Center and so graciously spoke to the students at the presentation. We thank you for your effort and look forward to working with you again in your ongoing support of our centers.

Claire Hall, M.Ed, Executive Director 
Educational Resources for Children, Inc. - Enfield, CT

The donation of children and adolescent books has thrilled both students and staff alike. Your incredible generosity will allow our young mothers to choose age-appropriate reading material for their children. This will reinforce reading aloud daily, which is the single most important thing they can do for their children, second only to hugging!

Dorothy Mack, Executive Director 
The Helen Berube Teen Parent Program - Pittsfield, MA