As the sun rose over the Durham Public Schools Staff Development Center, a group of IXLers carried boxes full of books into the cafeteria and created neat piles for babies, children, and young adults. This was IXL’s third time volunteering with Book Harvest, a Durham, N.C.-based nonprofit that provides books and literacy support to local families. This time, IXL was helping run Book Harvest’s station at Día Day!

Día Day gives children and families the opportunity to come together to learn about culture, heritage, and language as tools for strengthening communities. The event celebrates children of all backgrounds and connects them to the world of learning through books, stories, and their local libraries. Volunteer organizations from around the Triangle provided programming, from science experiments to outdoor games. As children visited each station, they received a stamp; at the end of the day, they could present all the stamps they’d collected for a prize.

IXL volunteers led kids in craft projects, such as tissue paper flowers and origami, and made sure every child got to fill a bag with books that had been donated by the community. As children carried away piles of books, IXLers continuously restocked the tables so that plenty of books were available for the next group of kids.

“It was wonderful to see so many people excited about reading,” said Adam Singer, an IXL engineering project lead. “There were kids who would ask us if we had any books from a particular series or author, or if we had books on a topic like dinosaurs, trucks, or animals. I saw parents smile as they came across a book they wanted to read with their child. Even some grownups found books in the teen section for them to read on their own.”

To learn more about Día and find a local Día Day near you, click here.

For more information about Book Harvest and how you can get involved, check out bookharvestnc.org.

—Colleen M., Technical Support Analyst