Katherine Broadnax (left) holds book she selected from Leslie Dillon’s section

Sometimes it takes a village to connect books and young readers

Contributed By: The 411 News

Two days before Christmas, Katherine Broadnax’s bag at the Gary Teachers Union, AFT Local 4 book giveaway was filling up with stocking stuffers for her nephew. Putting him on the path to love books is her aim, as she did with her son. “Every night I read to him. And when he became old enough, he liked to read to me,” Broadnax said.

Gary Teachers Union has been holding book giveaways since 2018, said Leslie Dillon, a Local 4 executive board member. Dillon was showing visitors choices for middle and high school readers.

It’s all about kids connections to books, said Dillon, now out of the classroom and working on a PhD in education. “It is hard to get children to read if the only books they see are classroom text books.”

Glen Park Academy 1st grade teacher Brian Andreshak knows that well. Andreshak is also a Local 4 executive board member and is the founder of a charity that donates books and winter clothing to schools in Gary and East Chicago.

Andreshak said he is a partner in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which mails free books to families every month for their children up to 4-years old.

Broadnax was also among the visitors to Dillon’s section. She told Dillon that her son loved cooking and loved watching the Food Network. So, Broadnax picked up a book about cooking that she knew would peak his interests.

Another visitor to Dillon’s section picked up a book for her child, a member on the school’s track team. “The parent told me the book is part of a series about a young track athlete,” Dillon said.

Tennile Foster, a Gary Community School Corporation employee volunteered at the book giveaway. She saw the connection with a pre-schooler who was holding a picture book. He told Foster, “This picture is on my shirt.”

The book giveaway drew in volunteer Clarence Thornton, as a community involvement project for his organization Black Labor Week – an entity of United Steel Workers Local 1014. The steelworker said it was fun to see the kids come in, look over the books, and choose the books they wanted. Thornton worked the section for K-3 readers.

“Volunteering at these types of events is especially important for black men to come out and support,” Thornton said, “to show these kids that black men are present in the community.”


A pre-schooler told Tennile Foster that a picture on his shirt was the same picture in the book he selected.


A family looks over books in Clarence Thornton’s section

Story Posted:12/29/2023